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BUCCANEERS   AND    PIRATES 
OF   OUR    COASTS 


2^^ 


•S  ^-^  o 


''The  pirates  climbed  up  the  sides  of  the  man-of-war  as  if  they  had 
been  twenty-nine  cats.  *  *  —  Frontispiece, 


Buccaneers  and  Pirates 
of  Our  Coasts 


By 

Frank  R.  Stockton 

Author  of  "  Rudder  Grange  " 


With  Illustrations  by 
George  Varian  and  B.  West  Clinedinst 


New  York 
The  Macmillan  Company 

London:  Macmillan  &  Co.,  Ltd. 
1919 

All  rights  reserved 


/ 


Copyright,  1897-189S, 
By  The  Century  Co. 


Copyright,  1898, 
By  The  Macmillan  Company. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  July,  1898.     Reprinted  November,  1898 ; 
September,  1905;  May,  1906  ;  April,  October,  1908;  October,  1910;, 
March,  1913;  September,  1914;  January,  1915;  October,  1917. 


HJSTORt  I 


Norvjood  Press 

J.  S.  Cusbing  &  Co.  — Berwick  &  Smith 

Nonvoodf  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


Contents 


Chapter 

P*g. 

I. 

The  Bold  Buccaneers      .         .         , 

I 

II. 

Some  Masters  in  Piracy 

7 

III. 

Pupils  in  Piracy      .          .         .         • 

.       i6 

IV. 

Peter  the  Great      .... 

•       23 

V. 

The  Story  of  a  Pearl  Pirate 

•       31 

VI. 

The    Surprising  Adventures   of  Bartholemy  Ppr 

tuguez      ..... 

. 

'       39 

VII. 

The  Pirate  who  could  not  Swim 

• 

.       49 

VIII. 

How  Bartholemy  rested  Himself 

• 

.       59 

IX. 

A  Pirate  Author     .... 

• 

.       65 

X. 

The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Brazilian 

• 

.       72 

XI. 

A  Buccaneer  Boom         ..^'      '.         , 

• 

.       89 

XII. 

The  Story  of  L'Olonnois  the  Cruel    . 

• 

.       94 

XIII. 

A  Resurrected  Pirate        .          .          • 

• 

.     100 

XIV. 

Villany  on  a  Grand  Scale          •          • 

• 

109 

XV. 

A  Just  Reward       .          .          •         • 

• 

.     119 

XVI. 

A  Pirate  Potentate 

• 

.     132 

XVII. 

How    Morgan    was   helped   by    Some 

Religion 

People 

• 

.     145 

XVIII. 

A  Piratical  Aftermath 

• 

.     153 

XIX. 

A  Tight  Place  for  Morgan 

• 

.     159 

>i  o  i  r  o  A 


VI 


Contents 


Chapter 

XX.  The  Story  of  a  High- Minded  Pirate 

XXI.  Exit  Buccaneer  ;   Enter  Pirate 

XXII.  The  Great  Blackbeard  comes  upon  the  Stage 

XXIII.  A  True-Hearted  Sailor  draws  his  Sword  . 

XXIV.  A  Greenhorn  under  the  Black  Flag 
XXV.  Bonnet  again  to  the  Front 

XXVI.  The  Battle  of  the  Sand  Bars  . 

XXVII.  A  Six  Weeks*  Pirate     .... 

XXVIII.  The  Story  of  Two  Women  Pirates 

XXIX.  A  Pirate  from  Boyhood 

XXX.  A  Pirate  of  the  Gulf    .... 

XXXI.  The  Pirate  of  the  Buried  Treasure   . 

XXXII.  The  Real  Captdn  Kidd 


Pftge 

171 

192 
200 
210 
217 
224 
233 
243 
253 
263 
277 
291 
309 


List  of  Illustrations 

Facing  Page 
"  The  pirates  climbed  up  the  sides  of  the  man-of-war  as  if 
they  had  been  twenty-nine  cats**    .  .   Frontispiece 

Haunts  of  "The  Brethren  of  the  Coast'*  :  Map       .         .  i 

**  They  set  all  sail,  and  there  was  a  fine  sea-chase  **    .  ,        37 

**  The  best  marksmen,  crouching  close  to  the  deck,  fired  and 

fired  whenever  a  Spanish  head  was  to  be  seen**  .         .       44 

"The  pirate  soon  floated  out  of  sight  and  hearing**    ,         .        53 

"  In  a  small  boat  filled   with  some  of  his  trusty  men  he 

rowed  quietly  into  the  port**  .  .  .         .         '77 

**  When  the  slave  came  back  to  Roc,  the  letter  was  pvcn 

to  him  with  very  particular  directions**      ...        80 

**  The  money  and  spoils  were  divided  among  all  the  buc- 
caneers**     .         •  .  .  .         .  .         .124 

**  Morgan  began  to  upbraid  them,  and  ordered  them  taken 

below** 151 

*«  Maynard  was  a  practised  swordsman,  and  the  great  Black- 
beard  went  down  upon  his  back**    .  .  .  .214 

*'  Blackbeard  told  Bonnet  that  he  was  not  fit  to  be  a  pirate 
captain,  and  that  he  would  send  somebody  to  take 
charge  of  the   Revenge** 223 

**  The  boat  was  run  through  the  surf  to  the  beach"   •         •     300 

*' Two  of  the  pirates  went  down  into  the  hole  "        .  •     302 

*' The  great  merchantman  was  captured  **         •  .  •3*4 


Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our 
Coasts 

Chapter  I  . 

The  Bold  Buccaneers 

WHEN  I  was  a  boy  I  strongly  desired  to 
be  a  pirate,  and  the  reason  for  this  was 
the  absolute  independence  of  that  sort  of 
life.  Restrictions  of  all  sorts  had  become  onerous 
to  me,  and  in  my  reading  of  the  adventures  of  the 
bold  sea-rovers  of  the  main,  I  had  unconsciously 
selected  those  portions  of  a  pirate's  life  which  were 
attractive  to  me,  and  had  totally  disregarded  all  the  . 
rest. 

In  fact,  I  had  a  great  desire  to  become  what  might 
be  called  a  marine  Robin  Hood.  I  would  take 
from  the  rich  and  give  to  the  poor;  I  would  run 
my  long,  low,  black  craft  by  the  side  of  the  mer- 
chantman, and  when  I  had  loaded  my  vessel  with 
the  rich  stuffs  and  golden  ingots  which  composed 
her  cargo,  I  would  sail  away  to  some  poor  village, 
and  make  its  inhabitants  prosperous  and  happy  for  # 


•  ••-••     » 

••••••     • 

•  ••••• 

•  •  «        •       • 


2     ''"iftiiccarfeefs  '^rf'Krktes  of  Our  Coasts 

the  rest  of  their  lives  by  a  judicious  distribution  of 
my  booty. 

I  would  always  be  as  free  as  a  sea-bird.  My 
men  would  be  devoted  to  me,  and  my  word  would 
be  their  law.  I  would  decide  for  myself  whether 
this  or  that  proceeding  would  be  proper,  generous, 
and  worthy  of  my  unlimited  power;  when  tired 
of  sailing,  I  would  retire  to  my  island,  —  the  posi- 
tion of  which,  in  a  beautiful  semi-tropic  ocean,  would 
be  known  only  to  myself  and  to  my  crew,  —  and 
there  I  would  pass  happy  days  in  the  company  of 
my  books,  my  works  of  art,  and  all  the  various 
treasures  I  had  taken  from  the  mercenary  vessels 
which  I  had  overhauled. 

Such  was  my  notion  of  a  pirate's  life.  I  would 
kill  nobody ;  the  very  sight  of  my  black  flag 
would  be  sufficient  to  put  an  end  to  all  thought  of 
resistance  on  the  part  of  my  victims,  who  would 
no  more  think  of  fighting  me,  than  a  fat  bishop 
would  have  thought  of  lifting  his  hand  against 
Robin  Hood  and  his  merry  men ;  and  I  truly 
believe  that  I  expected  my  conscience  to  have  a 
great  deal  more  to  do  in  the  way  of  approval  of 
my  actions,  than  it  had  found  necessary  in  the 
course  of  my  ordinary  school-boy  life. 

I  mention  these  early  impressions  because  I  have 
a  notion  that  a  great  many  people  —  and  not  only 
young  people  —  have  an  idea  of  piracy  not  alto- 


/: 


The  Bold  Buccaneers  3. 

gether  different  from  that  of  my  boyhood.  They 
know  that  pirates  are  wicked  men,  that,  in  fact, 
they  are  sea-robbers  or  maritime  murderers,  but 
their  bold  and  adventurous  method  of  life,  their 
bravery,  daring,  and  the  exciting  character  of  their 
expeditions,  give  them  something  of  the  same  charm 
and  interest  which  belong  to  the  robber  knights  of 
the  middle  ages.  The  one  mounts  his  mailed  steed 
and  clanks  his  long  sword  against  his  iron  stirrup, 
riding  forth  into  the  world  with  a  feeling  that  he  can 
do  anything  that  pleases  him,  if  he  finds  himself 
strong  enough.  The  other  springs  into  his  rakish 
craft,  spreads  his  sails  to  the  wind,  and  dashes  over 
the  sparkUng  main  with  a  feeling  that  he  can  do  v 
anything  he  pleases,  provided  he  be  strong  enough.        > 

The'^rsT pirates  who  ma3e^iemselvcs  known "m 
American  waters  were  the  famous  buccaneers ;  these 
began  their  career  in  a  very  commonplace  and  un- 
objectionable manner,  and  the  name  by  which  they 
were  known  had  originally  no  piratical  significance. 
It  was  derived  from  the  French  word  boucanier^ 
signifying  "a  drier  of  beef" 

Some  of  the  West  India  islands,  especially  San 
Domingo,  were  almost  overrun  with  wild  cattle  of 
various  kinds,  and  this  was  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  Spaniards  had  killed  off  nearly  all  the  natives, 
and  so  had  left  the  interior  of  the  islands  to  the 
herds  of  cattle  which  had  increased  rapidly.     There 


4         Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

were  a  few  settlements,  on  the  seacoast,  but  the 
Spaniards  did  not  allow  the  inhabitants  of  these  to 
trade  with  any  nation  but  their  own,  and  conse- 
quently the  people  were  badly  supplied  with  the 
necessaries  of  life.  v       •• 

But  the  trading  vessels  which  sailed  from  Europe 
to  that  part  of  the  Caribbean  Sea  were  manned  by 
bold  and  daring  sailors,  and  when  they  knew  that 
San  Domingo  contained  an  abundance  of  beef  cattle, 
they  did  not  hesitate  to  stop  at  the  little  seaports  to 
replenish  their  stores.  The  natives  of  the  Island 
were  skilled  in  the  art  of  preparing  beef  by  smoking 
and  drying  it,  —  very  much  In  the  same  way  in 
which  our  Indians  prepare  "jerked  meat"  for 
winter  use. 

But  so  many  vessels  came  to  San  Domingo  for 
beef  that  there  were  not  enough  people  on  the 
island  to  do  all  the  hunting  and  drying  that  was 
necessary,  so  these  trading  vessels  frequently  an- 
chored in  some  quiet  cove,  and  the  crews  went  on 
shore  and  devoted  themselves  to  securing  a  cargo 
of  beef,  —  nat  only  enough  for  their  own  use,  but 
for  trading  purposes ;  thus  they  became  known  as 
"  beef-driers,"  or  buccaneers. 

When  the  Spaniards  heard  of  this  new  Industry 
which  had  arisen  within  the  limits  of  their  posses- 
sions, they  pursued  the  vessels  of  the  buccaneers 
wherever  they  were  seen,  and  relentlessly  destroyed 


The  Bold  Buccaneers  t 

them  and  their  crews.  But  there  were  not  enough 
Spanish  vessels  to  put  down  the  trade  in  dried  beef; 
<more  European  vessels  —  generally  English  and 
French  —  stopped  at  San  Domingo ;  more  bands 
of  hunting  sailors  made  their  way  into  the  interior. 
When  these  daring  fellows  knew  that  the  Spaniards 
were  determi^fed  to  break  up  their  trade,  they  be- 
came more  determined  that  it  should  not  be  broken 
up,  and  they  armed  themselves  and  their  vessels  so 
that  they  might  be  able  to  make  a  defence  against 
the  Spanish  men-of-war. 

Thus  gradually  and  almost  imperceptibly  a  state 
of  maritime  warfare  grew  up  in  the  waters  of  the 
West  Indies  between  Spain  and  the  beef-traders  of 
other  nations ;  and  from  being  obliged  to  fight,  the 
buccaneers  became  glad  to  fight,  provided  that  it 
was  Spain  they  fought.  True  to  her  policy  of 
despotism  and  cruelty  when  dealing  with  her  Amer- 
ican possessions,  Spain  waged  a  bitter  and  bloody 
war  against  the  buccaneers  who  dared  to  interfere 
with  the  commercial  relations  between  herself  and 
her  West  India  colonies,  and  in  return,  the  bucca- 
neers were  just  as  bitter  and  savage  in  their  warfare 
against  Spain.  From  defending  themselves  against 
Spanish  attacks,  they  began  to  attack  Spaniards 
whenever  there  was  any  chance  of  success,  at  first 
only  upon  the  sea,  but  afterwards  on  land.  The 
cruelty  and  ferocity  of  Spanish  rule  had    brought 


6         Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

them  into  existence,  and  it  was  against  Spain  and 
her  possessions  that  the  cruelty  and  ferocity  which 
she  had  taught  them  were  now  directed. 

When  the  buccaneers  had  begun  to  understand 
each  other  and  to  effect  organizations  among  them- 
selves, they  adopted  a  general  name,  —  "The  Breth- 
ren of  the  Coast."  The  outside  world,  especially 
the  Spanish  world,  called  them  pirates,  sea-rob- 
bers, buccaneers,  —  any  title  which  would  express 
their  lawless  character,  but  in  their  own  denomina- 
tion of  themselves  they  expressed  only  their  frater- 
nal relations  ;  and  for  the  greater  part  of  their  career, 
they  truly  stood  by  each  other  like  brothers. 


Chapter  II 
Some  Masters  in  Piracy 

FROM  the  very  earliest  days  of  history  there 
have  been  pirates,  and  it  is,  therefore,  not  at 
all  remarkable  that,  in  the  early  days  of  the 
history  of  this  continent,  sea-robbers  should  have 
made  themselves  prominent ;  but  the  buccaneers  of 
America  differed  in  many  ways  from  those  pirates 
with  whom  the  history  of  the  old  world  has  made 
usjsquainted. 

It  was  very  seldom  that  an  armed  vessel  set  out 
from  an  European  port  for  the  express  purpose  of 
sea-robbery  in  American  waters.  At  first  nearly  all 
the  noted  buccaneers  were  traders.  But  the  circum- 
stances which  surrounded  them  in  the  new  world 
made  of  them  pirates  whose  evil  deeds  have  never 
been  surpassed  in  any  part  of  the  globe. 

These  unusual  circumstances  and  amazing  tempta- 
tions do  not  furnish  an  excuse  for  the  exceptionally 
wicked  careers  of  the  early  American  pirates ;  but 
we  are  bound  to  remember  these  causes  or  we  could 
not  understand  the  records  of  the  settlement  of  the 


8         Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 


mo  Dursuei 


West  Indies.  yTIj^^fe«€faneers  were  fierce  and  reck- 
less fellows  wno  pursued  their  daring  occupation 
because  it  was  profitable,  because  they  had  learned 
to  like  it,  and  because  it  enabled  them  to  wreak  a 
certain  amount  of  vengeance  upon  the  common 
enemy.  But  we  must  not  assume  that  they  inau- 
gurated the  piratical  conquests  and  warfare-^hich 
existed  so  long  upon  our  eastern  seacoasts^ 

Before  the  buccaneers  began  their  cared^,  there 
had  been  great  masters  of  piracy  who  had  opened 
their  schools  in  the  Caribbean  Sea ;  and  in  order 
that  the  condition  of  affairs  in  this  country  during 
parts  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  may 
be  clearly  understood,  we  will  consider  some  of  the 
very  earliest  noted  pirates  of  the  West  Indies. 

When  we  begin  a  judicial  inquiry  into  the  condi- 
tion of  our  fellow-beings,  we  should  try  to  be  as 
courteous  as  we  can,  but  we  must  be  just ;  conse- 
quently a  man's  fame  and  position  must  not  turn  us 
aside,  when  we  are  acting  as  historical  investigators. 

Therefore,  we  shall  be  bold  and  speak  the  truth, 
and  although  we  shall  take  oflF  our  hats  and  bow  very 
respectfully,  we  must  still  assert  that  Christopher 
Columbus  was  the  first  who  practised  piracy  in 
American  waters. 

When  he  sailed  with  his  three  little  ships  to  dis- 
cover unknown  lands,  he  was  an  accredited  explorer 
for  the  court  of  Spain,  and  was  bravely  sailing  forth 


Some  Masters  in  Piracy  9 

■with  an  honest  purpose,  and  with  the  same  regard 
for  law  and  justice  as  is  possessed  by  any  explorer 
of  the  present  day.  But  when  he  discovered  some 
unknown  lands,  rich  in  treasure  and  outside  of  all 
legal  restrictions,  the  views  and  ideas  of  the  great 
discoverer  gradually  changed.  Being  now  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  civilization,  he  also  placed  him- 
self beyond  the  boundaries  of  civilized  law.  Rob- 
bery, murder,  and  the  destruction  of  property,  by 
the  commanders  of  naval  expeditions,  who  have  no 
warrant  or  commission  for  their  conduct,  is  the  same 
as  piracy,  and  when  Columbus  ceased  to  be  a  legal- 
ized explorer,  and  when,  against  the  expressed  wishes, 
and  even  the  prohibitions,  of  the  royal  personages 
who  had  sent  him  out  on  this  expedition,  he  began 
to  devastate  the  countries  he  had  discovered,  and  to 
enslave  and  exterminate  their  peaceable  natives,  then 
he  became  a  master  in  piracy,  from  whom  the  buc- 
caneers afterward  learned  many  a  valuable  lesson. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  enter  very  deeply  into 
the  consideration  of  the  policy  of  Columbus  toward 
the  people  of  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies.  His 
second  voyage  was  nothing  more  than  an  expedition 
for  the  sake  of  plunder.  He  had  discovered  gold 
and  other  riches  in  the  West  Indies  and  he  had 
found  that  the  people  who  inhabited  the  islands  were 
simple-hearted,  inoffensive  creatures,  who  did  not 
know  how  to  fight  and  who  did  not  want  to  fight. 


lo       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Therefore,  it  was  so  easy  to  sail  his  ships  into  the 
harbors  of  defenceless  islands,  to  subjugate  the  na- 
tives, and  to  take  away  the  products  of  their  mines 
and  soil,  that  he  commenced  a  veritable  course  of 
piracy. 

The  acquisition  of  gold  and  all  sorts  of  plunder 
seemed  to  be  the  sole  object  of  this  Spanish  ex- 
pedition ;  natives  were  enslaved,  and  subjected  to 
the  greatest  hardships,  so  that  they  died  in  great 
numbers.  At  one  time  three  hundred  of  them  were 
sent  as  slaves  to  Spain.  A  pack  of  bloodhounds, 
which  Columbus  had  brought  with  him  for  the  pur- 
pose, was  used  to  hunt  down  the  poor  Indians  when 
they  endeavored  to  escape  from  the  hands  of  the 
oppressors,  and  in  every  way  the  island  of  Hayti, 
the  principal  scene  of  the  actions  of  Columbus,  was 
treated  as  if  its  inhabitants  had  committed  a  dread- 
ful crime  by  being  in  possession  of  the  wealth  which 
the  Spaniards  desired  for  themselves. 

Queen  Isabella  was  greatly  opposed  to  these  cruel 
and  unjust  proceedings.  She  sent  back  to  their 
native  land  the  slaves  which  Columbus  had  shipped 
to  Spain,  and  she  gave  positive  orders  that  no  more 
of  the  inhabitants  were  to  be  enslaved,  and  that  they 
were  all  to  be  treated  with  moderation  and  kindness. 
But  the  Atlantic  is  a  wide  ocean,  and  Columbus,  far 
away  from  his  royal  patron,  paid  little  attention  to 
her  wishes  and  commands;    without  going  further 


Some  Masters  in  Piracy  -  1 1 

into  the  history  of  this  period,  we  will  simply  men- 
tion the  fact  that  it  was  on  account  of  his  alleged 
atrocities  that  Columbus  was  superseded  in  his  com- 
mand, and  sent  back  in  chains  to  Spain. 

There  was  another  noted  personage  of  the  six- 
teenth century  who  played  the  part  of  pirate  in 
the  new  world,  and  thereby  set  a  most  shining  ex- 
ample to  the  buccaneers  of  those  regions.  This  was 
no  other  than  Sir  Francis  Drake,  one  of  England^s 
greatest  naval  commanders. 

It  is  probable  that  Drake,  when  he  started  out  in 
life,  was  a  man  of  very  law-abiding  and  orderly  dis- 
position, for  he  was  appointed  by  Queen  Elizabeth 
a  naval  chaplain,  and,  it  is  said,  though  there  is  some 
doubt  about  this,  that  he  was  subsequently  vicar  of 
a  parish.  But  by  nature  he  was  a  sailor,  and  noth- 
ing else,  and  after  having  made  several  voyages  in 
which  he  showed  himself  a  good  fighter,  as  well  as 
a  good  commander,  he  undertook,  in  1572,  an  ex- 
pedition against  the  Spanish  settlements  in  the  West 
Indies,  for  which  he  had  no  legal  warrant  whatever. 

Spain  was  not  at  war  with  England,  and  when 
Drake  sailed  with  four  small  ships  into  the  port  of 
the  little  town  of  Nombre  de  Dios  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  were  as 
much  astonished  as  the  people  of  Perth  Amboy 
would  be  if  four  armed  vessels  were  to  steam  into 
Raritan  Bay,  and  endeavor  to  take  possession  of  tl^e 


12       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

town.  The  peaceful  Spanish  townspeople  were  not 
at  war  with  any  civilized  nation,  and  they  could  not 
understand  why  bands  of  armed  men  should  invade 
their  streets,  enter  the  market-place,  fire  their  cali- 
vers,  or  muskets,  into  the  air,  and  then  sound  a 
trumpet  loud  enough  to  wake  up  everybody  in  the 
place.  Just  outside  of  the  town  the  invaders  had 
left  a  portion  of  their  men,  and  when  these  heard 
the  trumpet  in  the  market-place,  they  also  fired  their 
guns ;  all  this  noise  and  hubbub  so  frightened  the 
good  people  of  the  town,  that  many  of  them  jumped 
from  their  beds,  and  without  stopping  to  dress,  fled 
away  to  the  mountains.  But  all  the  citizens  were 
not  such  cowards,  and  fourteen  or  fifteen  of  them 
armed  themselves  and  went  out  to  defend  their  town 
from  the  unknown  invaders. 

Beginners  in  any  trade  or  profession,  whether  it 
be  the  playing  of  the  piano,  the  painting  of  pictures, 
or  the  pursuit  of  piracy,  are  often  timid  and  dis- 
trustful of  themselves  ;  so  it  happened  on  this  occa- 
sion with  Francis  Drake  and  his  men,  who  were 
merely  amateur  pirates,  and  showed  very  plainly 
that  they  did  not  yet  understand  their  business. 

When  the  fifteen  Spanish  citizens  came  into  the 
market-place  and  found  there  the  little  body  of 
armed  Englishmen,  they  immediately  fired  upon 
them,  not  knowing  or  caring  who  they  were.  This 
brave  resistance   seems  to  have  frightened  Drake 


Some  Masters  in  Piracy  t^ 

and  his  men  almost  as  much  as  their  trumpets  and 
guns  had  frightened  the  citizens,  and  the  English 
immediately  retreated  from  the  town.  When  they 
reached  the  place  where  they  had  left  the  rest  of 
their  party,  they  found  that  these  had  already  run 
away,  and  taken  to  the  boats.  Consequently  Drake 
and  his  brave  men  were  obliged  to  take  off  some  of 
their  clothes  and  to  wade  out  to  the  little  ships.  The 
Englishmen  secured  no  booty  whatever,  and  killed 
only  one  Spaniard,  who  was  a  man  who  had  been 
looking  out  of  a  window  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 
Whether  or  not  Drake's  conscience  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  bungling  manner  in  which  he  made 
this  first  attempt  at  piracy,  we  cannot  say,  but  he 
soon  gave  his  conscience  a  holiday,  and  undertook 
some  very  successful  robbing  enterprises.  He  re- 
ceived information  from  some  natives,  that  a  train 
of  mules  was  coming  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
loaded  with  gold  and  silver  bullion,  and  guarded 
only  by  their  drivers  ;  for  the  merchants  who  owned 
all  this  treasure  had  no  idea  that  there  was  any  one  in 
that  part  of  the  world  who  would  commit  a  robbery 
upon  them.  But  Drake  and  his  men  soon  proved 
that  they  could  hold  up  a  train  of  mules  as  easily  as 
some  of  the  masked  robbers  in  our  western  country 
hold  up  a  train  of  cars.  All  the  gold  was  taken, 
but  the  silver  was  too  heavy  for  the  amateur  pirates 
to  carry. 


14       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Two  days  after  that,  Drake  and  his  men  came  to 
a  place  called  "  The  House  of  Crosses,"  where  they 
killed  five  or  six  peaceable  merchants,  but  were 
greatly  disappointed  to  find  no  gold,  although  the 
house  was  full  of  rich  merchandise  of  various  kinds. 
As  his  men  had  no  means  of  carrying  away  heavy 
goods,  he  burned  up  the  house  and  all  its  contents 
and  went  to  his  ships,  and  sailed  away  with  the 
treasure  he  had  already  obtained. 

Whatever  this  gallant  ex-chaplain  now  thought 
of  himself,  he  was  considered  by  the  Spaniards  as  an 
out-and-out  pirate,  and  in  this  opinion  they  were 
quite  correct.  During  his  great  voyage  around  the 
world,  which  he  began  in  1577,  he  came  down  upon 
the  Spanish-American  settlements  like  a  storm  from 
the  sea.  He  attacked  towns,  carried  off  treasure, 
captured  merchant-vessels,  —  and  in  fact  showed 
himself  to  be  a  thoroughbred  and  accomplished 
pirate  of  the  first  class. 

It  was  in  consequence  of  the  rich  plunder  with 
which  his  ships  were  now  loaded,  that  he  made  his 
voyage  around  the  world.  He  was  afraid  to  go 
back  the  way  he  came,  for  fear  of  capture,  and  so, 
having  passed  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  and  having 
failed  to  find  a  way  out  of  the  Pacific  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  California,  he  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  and  sailed  along  the  western  coast  of  Africa 
to  European  waters. 


Some  Masters  in  Piracy  15 

This  grand  piratical  expedition  excited  great  indig- 
nation in  Spain,  which  country  was  still  at  peace 
with  England,  and  even  in  England  there  were 
influential  people  who  counselled  the  Queen  that  it 
would  be  wise  and  prudent  to  disavow  Drake's 
actions,  and  compel  him  to  restore  to  Spain  the 
booty  he  had  taken  from  his  subjects.  But  Queen 
Elizabeth  was  not  the  woman  to  do  that  sort  of 
thing.  She  liked  brave  men  and  brave  deeds,  and 
she  was  proud  of  Drake.  Therefore,  instead  of 
I  punishing  him,  she  honored  him,  and  went  to  take 
dinner  with  him  on  board  his  ship,  which  lay  at 
Deptford. 

So  Columbus  does  not  stand  alone  as  a  grand 
master  of  piracy.  The  famous  Sir  Francis  Drake, 
who  became  vice-admiral  of  the  fleet  which  defeated 
the  Spanish  Armada,  was  a  worthy  companion  of 
the  great  Genoese. 

These  notable  instances  have  been  mentioned 
because  it  would  be  unjust  to  take  up  the  history 
of  those  resolute  traders  who  sailed  from  England, 
France,  and  Holland,  to  the  distant  waters  of  the 
western  world  for  the  purpose  of  legitimate  enter- 
prise and  commerce,  and  who  afterwards  became 
thorough-going  pirates,  without  trying  to  make  it 
clear  that  they  had  shining  examples  for  their  nota- 
ble careers. 


Chapter  III 
Pupils  in  Piracy 

AFTER  the  discoveries  of  Columbus,  the  Span- 
ish mind  seems  to  have  been  filled  with  the 
-  idea  that  the  whole  undiscovered  world, 
wherever  it  might  be,  belonged  to  Spain,  and  that 
no  other  nation  had  any  right  whatever  to  dis- 
cover anything  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  or 
to  make  any  use  whatever  of  lands  which  had  been 
discovered.  In  fact,  the  natives  of  the  new  coun- 
tries, and  the  inhabitants  of  all  old  countries  except 
her  own,  were  considered  by  Spain  as  possessing  no 
rights  whatever.  If  the  natives  refused  to  pay 
tribute,  or  to  spend  their  days  toiling  for  gold  for 
their  masters,  or  if  vessels  from  England  or  France 
touched  at  one  of  their  settlements  for  purposes 
of  trade,  it  was  all  the  same  to  the  Spaniards ; 
a  war  of  attempted  extermination  was  waged  alike 
against  the  peaceful  inhabitants  of  Hispaniola,  now 
Hayti,  and  upon  the  bearded  and  hardy  seamen 
from  Northern  Europe.  Under  this  treatment 
the   natives  weakened  and   gradually  disappeared ; 

i6 


Pupils  in  Piracy  17 

but  the  buccaneers  became  more  and  more  numer- 
ous and  powerful. 

The  buccaneers  were  not  unlike  that  class  of  men 
known  in  our  western  country  as  cowboys.  Young 
fellows  of  good  families  from  England  and  France 
often  determined  to  embrace  a  life  of  adventure,  and 
possibly  profit,  and  sailed  out  to  the  West  Indies 
to  get  gold  and  hides,  and  to  fight  Spaniards.  Fre- 
quently they  dropped  their  family  names  and  as- 
sumed others  more  suitable  to  roving  freebooters, 
and,  like  the  bold  young  fellows  who  ride  over  our 
western  plains,  driving  cattle  and  shooting  Indians, 
they  adopted  a  style  of  dress  as  free  and  easy,  but 
probably  not  quite  so  picturesque,  as  that  of  the 
cowboy.  They  soon  became  a  very  rough  set  of 
fellows,  in  appearance  as  well  as  action,  endeavoring 
in  every  way  to  let  the  people  of  the  western  world 
understand  that  they  were  absolutely  free  and  inde- 
pendent of  the  manners  and  customs,  as  well  as  of 
the  laws  of  their  native  countries. 

So  well  was  this  independence  understood,  that 
when  the  buccaneers  became  strong  enough  to  in- 
flict some  serious  injury  upon  the  settlements  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  the  Spanish  court  remonstrated 
with  Queen  Elizabeth  on  account  of  what  had  been 
done  by  some  of  her  subjects,  she  replied  that  she 
had  nothing  to  do  with  these  buccaneers,  who,  al- 
though they  had  been  born  in  England,  had  ceased 


1 8       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

for  the  time  to  be  her  subjects,  and  the  Spaniards 
must  defend  themselves  against  them  just  as  if  they 
were  an  independent  nation. 

But  it  is  impossible  for  men  who  have  been 
brought  up  in  civilized  society,  and  who  .have  been 
accustomed  to  obey  laws,  to  rid  themselves  entirely 
of  all  ideas  of  propriety  and  morality,  as  soon  as 
they  begin  a  life  of  lawlessness.  So  it  happened  that 
many  of  the  buccaneers  could  not  divest  themselves 
of  the  notions  of  good  behavior  to  which  they  had 
been  accustomed  from  youth.  For  instance,  we  are 
told  of  a  captain  of  buccaneers,  who,  landing  at  a  set- 
tlement on  a  Sunday,  took  his  crew  to  church.  As  it 
is  not  at  all  probable  that  any  of  the  buccaneering 
vessels  carried  chaplains,  opportunities  of  attending 
services  must  have  been  rare.  This  captain  seems  to 
have  wished  to  show  that  pirates  in  church  know 
what  they  ought  to  do  just  as  well  as  other  people ; 
it  was  for  this  reason  that,  when  one  of  his  men  be- 
haved himself  in  an  improper  and  disorderly  manner 
during  the  service,  this  proper-minded  captain  arose 
from  his  seat  and  shot  the  offender  dead. 

There  was  a  Frenchman  of  that  period  who  must 
have  been  a  warm-hearted  philanthropist,  because, 
having  read  accounts  of  the  terrible  atrocities  of  the 
Spaniards  in  the  western  lands,  he  determined  to 
leave  his  home  and  his  family,  and  become  a  bucca- 
neer, in  order  that  he  might  do  what  he  could  for 


Pupils  in  Piracy  19 

the  suffering  natives  in  the  Spanish  possessions. 
He  entered  into  the  great  work  which  he  had 
planned  for  himself  with  such  enthusiasm  and  zeal, 
that  in  the  course  of  time  he  came  to  be  known  as 
"The  Exterminator,"  and  if  there  had  been  more 
people  of  his  philanthropic  turn  of  mind,  there 
would  soon  have  been  no  inhabitants  whatever  upon 
the  islands  from  which  the  Spaniards  had  driven 
out  the  Indians. 

There  was  another  person  of  that  day,  —  also  a 
Frenchman, — who  became  deeply  involved  in  debt 
in  his  own  country,  and  feeling  that  the  principles  of 
honor  forbade  him  to  live  upon  and  enjoy  what  was 
really  the  property  of  others,  he  made  up  his  mind 
to  sail  across  the  Atlantic,  and  become  a  buccaneer. 
He  hoped  that  if  he  should  be  successful  in  his  new 
profession,  and  should  be  enabled  to  rob  Spaniards 
for  a  term  of  years,  he  could  return  to  France,  pay 
off  all  his  debts,  and  afterward  live  the  life  of  a  man 
of  honor  and  respectability. 

Other  ideas  which  the  buccaneers  brought  with 
them  from  their  native  countries  soon  showed  them- 
selves when  these  daring  sailors  began  their  lives  as 
regular  pirates ;  among  these,  the  idea  of  organiza- 
tion was  very  prominent.  Of  course  it  was  hard  to 
get  a  number  of  free  and  untrammelled  crews  to 
unite  and  obey  the  commands  of  a  few  officers. 
But  in  time  the  buccaneers  had  recognized  leaders. 


20       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

and  laws  were  made  for  concerted  action.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  the  buccaneers  became  a  formidable 
body  of  men,  sometimes  superior  to  the  Spanish 
naval  and  military  forces. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  buccaneers  lived 
in  a  very  peculiar  age.  So  far  as  the  history  of 
America  is  concerned,  it  might  be  called  the  age 
of  blood  and  gold.  In  the  newly  discovered  coun- 
tries there  were  no  laws  which  European  nations  or 
individuals  cared  to  observe.  In  the  West  Indies 
and  the  adjacent  mainlands  there  were  gold  and  sil- 
ver, and  there  were  also  valuable  products  of  other 
kinds,  and  when  the  Spaniards  sailed  to  their  part 
of  the  new  world,  these  treasures  were  the  things  for 
which  they  came.  The  natives  were  weak  and  not 
able  to  defend  themselves.  All  the  Spaniards  had 
to  do  was  to  take  what  they  could  find,  and  when 
they  could  not  find  enough  they  made  the  poor 
Indians  find  it  for  them.  Here  was  a  part  of  the 
world,  and  an  age  of  the  world,  wherein  it  was  the 
custom  for  men  to  do  what  they  pleased,  provided 
they  felt  themselves  strong  enough,  and  it  was  not 
to  be  supposed  that  any  one  European  nation  could 
expect  a  monopoly  of  this  state  of  mind. 

Therefore  it  was  that  while  the  Spaniards  robbed 
and  ruined  the  natives  of  the  lands  they  discovered, 
the  English,  French,  and  Dutch  buccaneers  robbed 
the    robbers.     Great   vessels    were    sent   out    from 


c^ 


v-^ 


Pupils  in  Piracy  2i 

Spain,  carrying  nothing  in  the  way  of  merchandise 
to  America,  but  returning  with  all  the  precious  met- 
als and  valuable  products  of  the  newly  discovered 
regions,  which  could  in  any  way  be  taken  from  the 
unfortunate  natives.  The  gold  mines  of  the  new 
world  had  long  been  worked,  and  yielded  hand- 
some revenues,  but  the  native  method  of  operating 
them  did  not  satisfy  the  Spaniards,  who  forced  the 
poor  Indians  t6  labor  incessantly  at  the  difficult  task 
of  digging  out  the  precious  metals,  until  many  of 
them  died  under  the  cruel  oppression.  Sometimes 
the  Indians  were  kept  six  months  under  ground, 
working  in  the  mines ;  and  at  one  time,  when  it 
was  found  that  the  natives  had  died  off,  or  had  fled 
from  the  neighborhood  of  some  of  the  rich  gold 
deposits,  it  was  proposed  to  send  to  Africa  and  get 
a  cargo  of  negroes  to  work  the  mines. 

Now  it  is  easy  to  see  that  all  this  made  buccaneer- 
ing a  very  tempting  occupation.  To  capture  a 
great  treasure  ship,  after  the  Spaniards  had  been  at 
so  much  trouble  to  load  it,  was  a  grand  thing, 
according  to  the  pirate's  point  of  view,  and  although 
it  often  required  reckless  bravery  and  almost  super- 
human energy  to  accomplish  the  feats  necessary  in 
this  dangerous  vocation,  these  were  qualities  which 
were  possessed  by  nearly  all  the  sea-robbers  of 
our  coast;  the  stories  of  some  of  the  most  in- 
teresting  of  these   wild   and    desperate  fellows, — 


22       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

men  who  did  not  combine  piracy  with  discov- 
eries and  explorations,  but  who  were  out-and-out 
sea-robbers,  and  gained  in  that  way  all  the  repu- 
tation they  ever  possessed,  —  will  be  told  in  subse- 
quent chapters. 


(',  >  1 


f. 


Chapter  IV 
Peter  the  Great 

VERY  prominent  among  the  early  regular 
buccaneers  was  a  Frenchman  who  came  to 
be  called  Peter  the  Great.  This  man 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  those  adventurers  who 
were  not  buccaneers  in  the  earlier  sense  of  the 
word  (by  which  I  mean  they  were  not  traders 
who  touched  at  Spanish  settlements  to  procure 
cattle  and  hides,  and  who  were  prepared  to  fight 
any  Spaniards  who  might  interfere  with  them), 
but  they  were  men  who  came  from  Europe 
on  purpose  to  prey  upon  Spanish  possessions, 
whether  on  land  or  sea.  Some  of  them  made  a 
rough  sort  of  settlement  on  the  island  of  Tortuga, 
and  then  it  was  that  Peter  the  Great  seems  to  have 
come  into  prominence.  He  gathered  about  him  a 
body  of  adherents,  but  although  he  had  a  great 
reputation  as  an  individual  pirate,  it  seems  to  have 
been  a  good  while  before  he  achieved  any  success  as 
a  leader. 

The  fortunes  of  Peter  and  his  men  must  have 

23 


24       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

been  at  a  pretty  low  ebb  when  they  found  them- 
selves cruising  in  a  large,  canoe-shaped  boat  not  far 
from  the  island  of  Hispaniola.  There  were  twenty- 
nine  of  them  in  all,  and  they  were  not  able  to  pro- 
cure a  vessel  suitable  for  their  purpose.  They 
had  been  a  long  time  floating  about  in  an  aimless 
way,  hoping  to  see  some  Spanish  merchant-vessel 
which  they  might  attack  and  possibly  capture,  but 
no  such  vessel  appeared.  Their  provisions  began 
to  give  out,  the  men  were  hungry,  discontented,  and 
grumbling.  In  fact,  they  were  in  almost  as  bad  a 
condition  as  were  the  sailors  of  Columbus  just  be- 
fore they  discovered  signs  of  land,  after  their  long 
and  weary  voyage  across  the  Atlantic. 

When  Peter  and  his  men  were  almost  on  the 
point  of  despair,  they  perceived,  far  away  upon  the 
still  waters,  a  large  ship.  With  a  great  jump,  hope 
sprang  up  in  the  breast  of  every  man.  They  seized 
the  oars  and  pulled  in  the  direction  of  the  distant 
craft.  But  when  they  were  near  enough,  they  saw 
that  the  vessel  was  not  a  merchantman,  probably 
piled  with  gold  and  treasure,  but  a  man-of-war 
belonging  to  the  Spanish  fleet.  In  fact,  it  was  the 
vessel  of  the  vice-admiral.  This  was  an  astonishing 
and  disheartening  state  of  things.  It  was  very 
much  as  if  a  lion,  hearing  the  approach  of  probable 
prey,  had  sprung  from  the  thicket  where  he  had 
been  concealed,  and  had  beheld  before  him,  not  a 


Peter  the  Great  25 

fine,  fat  deer,  but  an  immense  and  scrawny  ele- 
phant. 

But  the  twenty-nine  buccaneers  in  the  crew  were 
very  hungry.  They  had  not  come  out  upon  those 
waters  to  attack  men-of-war,  but,  more  than  that, 
they  had  not  come  out  to  perish  by  hunger  and 
thirst.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  there  was 
plenty  to  eat  and  to  drink  on  that  tall  Spanish 
vessel,  and  if  they  could  not  get  food  and  water 
they  could  not  live  more  than  a  day  or  two  longer. 

Under  the  circumstances  it  was  not  long  before 
Peter  the  Great  made  up  his  mind  that  if  his  men 
would  stand  by  him,  he  would  endeavor  to  capture 
that  Spanish  war-vessel ;  when  he  put  the  ques- 
tion to  his  crew  they  all  swore  that  they  would 
follow  him  and  obey  his  orders  as  long  as  life  was 
left  in  their  bodies.  To  attack  a  vessel  armed  with 
cannon,  and  manned  by  a  crew  very  much  larger 
than  their  little  party,  seemed  almost  like  throwing 
themselves  upon  certain  death.  But  still,  there 
was  a  chance  that  in  some  way  they  might  get  the 
better  of  the  Spaniards  ;  whereas,  if  they  rowed 
away  again  into  the  solitudes  of  the  ocean,  they 
would  give  up  all  chance  of  saving  themselves  from 
death  by  starvation.  Steadily,  therefore,  they  pulled 
toward  the  Spanish  vessel,  and  slowly — for  there  was 
but  little  wind  —  she  approached  them. 

The  people  in  the  man-of-war  did  not  fail  to  per- 


26       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

ceive  the  little  boat  far  out  on  the  ocean,  and  some 
of  them  sent  to  the  captain  and  reported  the  fact. 
The  news,  however,  did  not  interest  him,  for  he 
was  engaged  in  playing  cards  in  his  cabin,  and  it  was 
not  until  an  hour  afterward  that  he  consented  to 
come  on  deck  and  look  out  toward  the  boat  which 
had  been  sighted,  and  which  was  now  much 
nearer. 

Taking  a  good  look  at  the  boat,  and  perceiving 
that  it  was  nothing  more  than  a  canoe,  the  captain 
laughed  at  the  advice  of  some  of  his  officers,  who 
thought  it  would  be  well  to  fire  a  few  cannon-shot 
and  sink  the  little  craft.  The  captain  thought  it 
would  be  a  useless  proceeding.  He  did  not  know 
anything  about  the  people  in  the  boat,  and  he  did 
not  very  much  care,  but  he  remarked  that  if  they 
should  come  near  enough,  it  might  be  a  good  thing 
to  put  out  some  tackle  and  haul  them  and  their 
boat  on  deck,  after  which  they  might  be  examined 
and  questioned  whenever  it  should  suit  his  conven- 
ience.    Then  he  went  down  to  his  cards. 

If  Peter  the  Great  and  his  men  could  have  been 
sure  that  if  they  were  to  row  alongside  the  Spanish 
vessel  they  would  have  been  quietly  hauled  on  deck 
and  examined,  they  would  have  been  delighted  at 
the  opportunity.  With  cutlasses,  pistols,  and  knives, 
they  were  more  than  ready  to  demonstrate  to  the 
Spaniards  what  sort  of  fellows  they  were,  and  the 


Peter  the  Great  27 

captain  would  have  found  hungry  pirates  uncomfort- 
able persons  to  question. 

But  it  seemed  to  Peter  and  his  crew  a  very  diffi- 
cult thing  indeed  to  get  themselves  on  board  the 
man-of-war,  so  they  curbed  their  ardor  and  enthusi- 
asm, and  waited  until  nightfall  before  approaching 
nearer.  As  soon  as  it  became  dark  enough  they 
slowly  and  quietly  paddled  toward  the  great  ship, 
which  was  now  almost  becalmed.  There  were  no 
lights  in  the  boat,  and  the  people  on  the  deck  of 
the  vessel  saw  and  heard  nothing  on  the  dark  waters 
around  them. 

When  they  were  very  near  the  man-of-war, 
the  captain  of  the  buccaneers  —  according  to  the 
ancient  accounts  of  this  adventure  —  ordered  his 
chirurgeon,  or  surgeon,  to  bore  a  large  hole  in  the 
bottom  of  their  canoe.  It  is  probable  that  this 
officer,  with  his  saws  and  other  surgical  instruments, 
was  expected  to  do  carpenter  work  when  there  were 
no  duties  for  him  to  perform  in  the  regular  line  of 
his  profession.  At  any  rate,  he  went  to  work,  and 
noiselessly  bored  the  hole. 

lis  remarkable  proceeding  showed  the  desperate 
character  of  these  pirates.     A  great,  almost  impossi- 
ble task  was  before  them,  and  nothing  but  absolute 
recklessness  could  enable  them  to  succeed.     If  his 
men  should  meet  with  strong  opposition  from  the 
Spaniards  in  the  proposed  attack,  and  if  any  of  them 


28       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

should  become  frightened  and  try  to  retreat  to  the 
boat,  Peter  knew  that  all  would  be  lost,  and  conse- 
quently he  determined  to  make  it  impossible  for  any 
man  to  get  away  in  that  boat.  If  they  could  not 
conquer  the  Spanish  vessel  they  must  die  on  her 
decks. 

When  the  half-sunken  canoe  touched  the  sides 
of  the  vessel,  the  pirates,  seizing  every  rope  or  pro- 
jection on  which  they  could  lay  their  hands,  climbed 
up  the  sides  of  the  man-of-war,  as  if  they  had  been 
twenty-nine  cats,  and  springing  over  the  rail,  dashed 
upon  the  sailors  who  were  on  deck.  These  men 
were  utterly  stupefied  and  astounded.  They  had 
seen  nothing,  they  had  heard  nothing,  and  all  of  a 
sudden  they  were  confronted  with  savage  fellows 
with  cutlasses  and  pistols. 

Some  of  the  crew  looked  over  the  sides  to  see 
where  these  strange  visitors  had  come  from,  but 
they  saw  nothing,  for  the  canoe  had  gone  to  the 
bottom.  Then  they  were  filled  with  a  superstitious 
horror,  believing  that  the  wild  visitors  were  devils 
who  had  dropped  from  the  sky,  for  there  seemed 
no  other  place  from  which  they  could  come.  Mak- 
ing no  attempt  to  defend  themselves,  the  sailors, 
wild  with  terror,  tumbled  below  and  hid  themselves, 
without  even  giving  an  alarm. 

The  Spanish  captain  was  still  playing  cards,  and 
whether  he  was  winning  or  losing,  the  old  historians 


Peter  the  Great  29 

do  not  tell  us,  but  very  suddenly  a  newcomer  took 
a  hand  in  the  game.  This  was  Peter  the  Great, 
and  he  played  the  ace  of  trumps.  With  a  great 
pistol  in  his  hand,  he  called  upon  the  Spanish  cap- 
tain to  surrender.  That  noble  commander  glanced 
around.  There  was  a  savage  pirate  holding  a  pistol 
at  the  head  of  each  of  the  officers  at  the  table.  He 
threw  up  his  cards.  The  trick  was  won  by  Peter 
and  his  men. 

The  rest  of  the  game  was  easy  enough.  When 
the  pirates  spread  themselves  over  the  vessel,  the 
frightened  crew  got  out  of  sight  as  well  as  they 
could.  Some,  who  attempted  to  seize  their  arms 
in  order  to  defend  themselves,  were  ruthlessly  cut 
down  or  shot,  and  when  the  hatches  had  been 
securely  fastened  upon  the  sailors  who  had  fled 
below,  Peter  the  Great  was  captain  and  owner  of 
that  tall  Spanish  man-of-war. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  the  first  thing  these  pirates 
did  to  celebrate  their  victory  was  to  eat  a  rousing 
good  supper,  and  then  they  took  charge  of  the 
vessel,  and  sailed  her  triumphantly  over  the  waters 
on  which,  not  many  hours  before,  they  had  feared 
that  a  little  boat  would  soon  be  floating,  filled  with 
their  emaciated  bodies. 

This  most  remarkable  success  of  Peter  the  Great 
worked  a  great  change,  of  course,  in  the  circum- 
stances of  himself  and   his  men.     But  it  worked 


30       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

a  greater  change  in  the  career,  and  possibly  in  the 
character  of  the  captain.  He  was  now  a  very  rich 
man,  and  all  his  followers  had  plenty  of  money. 
The  Spanish  vessel  was  amply  supplied  with  pro- 
visions, and  there  was  also  on  board  a  great  quan- 
tity of  gold  bullion,  which  was  to  be  shipped  to 
Spain.  In  fact,  Peter  and  his  men  had  booty 
enough  to  satisfy  any  sensible  pirate.  Now  we  all 
know  that  sensible  pirates,  and  people  in  any  sphere 
of  life  who  are  satisfied  when  they  have  enough,  are 
very  rare  indeed,  and  therefore  it  is  not  a  little  sur- 
prising that  the  bold  buccaneer,  whose  story  we  are 
now  telling,  should  have  proved  that  he  merited,  in 
a  certain  way,  the  title  his  companions  had  given 
him. 

Sailing  his  prize  to  the  shores  of  Hispaniola, 
Peter  put  on  shore  all  the  Spaniards  whose  services 
he  did  not  desire.  The  rest  of  his  prisoners  he 
compelled  to  help  his  men  work  the  ship,  and  then, 
without  delay,  he  sailed  away  to  France,  and  there 
he  retired  entirely  from  the  business  of  piracy,  and 
set  himself  up  as  a  gentleman  of  wealth  and  leisure. 


Chapter  V 
The  Story  of  a  Pearl  Pirate 

THE  ordinary  story  of  the  pirate,  or  the 
wicked  man  in  general,  no  matter  how 
successful  he  may  have  been  in  his  criminal 
^career,  nearly  always  ends  disastrously,  and  in  that 
way  points  a  moral  which  doubtless  has  a  good 
effect  on  a  large  class  of  people,  who  would  be  very 
glad  to  do  wrong,  provided  no,  harm  was  likely  to 
come  to  them  in  consequence.  But  the  story  of 
Peter  the  Great,  which  we  have  just  told,  contains 
no  such  moral.  In  fact,  its  influence  upon  the 
adventurers  of  that  period  was  most  unwholesome. 
When  the  wonderful  success  of  Peter  the  Great 
became  known,  the  buccaneering  community  at 
Tortuga  was  wildly  excited.  Every  bushy-bearded 
fellow  who  could  get  possession  of  a  small  boat,  and 
induce  a  score  of  other  bushy-bearded  fellows  to 
follow  him,  wanted  to  start  out  and  capture  a  rich 
Spanish  galleon,  as  the  great  ships,  used  alike  for 
war  and  commerce,  were  then  called. 

But  not  only  were  the  French  and  English  sailors 

31 


32       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

and  traders  who  had  become  buccaneers  excited  and 
stimulated  by  the  remarkable  good  fortune  of  their 
companion,  but  many  people  of  adventurous  mind, 
who  had  never  thought  of  leaving  England  for  pur- 
poses of  piracy,  now  became  firmly  convinced  that 
there  was  no  business  which  promised  better  than 
that  of  a  buccaneer,  and  some  of  them  crossed  the 
ocean  for  the  express  purpose  of  getting  rich  by 
capturing  Spanish  vessels  homeward  bound. 

As  there  were  not  enough  suitable  vessels  in  Tor- 
tuga  for  the  demands  of  the  recently  stimulated 
industry,  the  buccaneer  settlers  went  to  other  parts 
of  the  West  Indies  to  obtain  suitable  craft,  and  it  is 
related  that  in  about  a  month  after  the  great  victory 
of  Peter  the  Great,  two  large  Spanish  vessels,  loaded 
with  silver  bullion,  and  two  other  heavily  laden  mer- 
chantmen were  brought  into  Tortuga  by  the  bucca- 
neers. 

One  of  the  adventurers  who  set  out  about  this 
time  on  a  cruise  after  gold-laden  vessels,  was  a 
Frenchman  who  was  known  to  his  countrymen  as 
Pierre  Fran9ois,  and  to  the  English  as  Peter  Francis. 
He  was  a  good  sailor,  and  ready  for  any  sort  of  a 
sea-fight,  but  for  a  long  time  he  cruised  about  with- 
out seeing  anything  which  it  was  worth  while  to 
attempt  to  capture.  At  last,  when  his  provisions 
began  to  give  out,  and  his  men  became  somewhat 
discontented,  Pierre  made  up  his  mind  that  rather 


The  Story  of  a  Pearl  Pirate  ^3 

than  return  to  Tortuga  empty-handed,  he  would 
make  a  bold  and  novel  stroke  for  fortune. 

At  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  large  rivers  of  the 
mainland  the  Spaniards  had  established  a  pearl  fish- 
ery, —  for  there  was  no  kind  of  wealth  or  treasure, 
on  the  land,  under  ground,  or  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  that  the  Spaniards  did  not  get  if  it  were  possible 
for  them  to  do  so. 

Every  year,  at  the  proper  season,  a  dozen  or  more 
vessels  came  to  this  pearl-bank,  attended  by  a  man- 
of-war  to  protect  them  from  molestation.  Pierre 
knew  all  about  this,  and  as  he  could  not  find  any 
Spanish  merchantmen  to  rob,  he  thought  he  would 
go  down  and  see  what  he  could  do  with  the  pearl- 
fishers.  This  was  something  the  buccaneers  had 
not  yet  attempted,  but  no  one  knows  what  he  can 
do  until  he  tries,  and  it  was  very  necessary  that  this 
buccaneer  captain  should  try  something  immediately. 

When  he  reached  the  coast  near  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  he  took  the  masts  out  of  his  little  vessel,  and 
rowed  quietly  toward  the  pearl-fishing  fleet,  as  if  he 
had  intended  to  join  them  on  some  entirely  peace- 
able errand ;  and,  in  fact,  there  was  no  reason  what- 
ever why  the  Spaniards  should  suppose  that  a  boat 
full  of  buccaneers  should  be  rowing  along  that  part 
of  the  coast. 

The  pearl-fishing  vessels  were  all  at  anchor,  and 
the  people  on  board  were  quietly  attending  to  their 


34       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

business.  Out  at  sea,  some  distance  from  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  the  man-of-war  was  lying  becalmed. 
The  native  divers  who  went  down  to  the  bottom 
of  the  sea  to  bring  up  the  shellfish  which  contained 
the  pearls,  plunged  into  the  water,  and  came  up  wet 
and  shining  in  the  sun,  with  no  fear  whatever  of  any 
sharks  which  might  be  swimming  about  in  search  of 
a  dinner,  and  the  people  on  the  vessels  opened  the 
oysters  and  carefully  searched  for  pearls,  feeling  as 
safe  from  harm  as  if  they  were  picking  olives  in  their 
native  groves. 

But  something  worse  than  a  shark  was  quietly 
making  its  way  over  those  tranquil  waters,  and  no 
banditti  who  ever  descended  from  Spanish  moun- 
tains upon  the  quiet  peasants  of  a  village,  equalled 
in  ferocity  the  savage  fellows  who  were  crouching  in 
the  little  boat  belonging  to  Pierre  of  Tortuga. 

This  innocent-looking  craft,  which  the  pearl- 
fishers  probably  thought  was  loaded  with  fruit  or 
vegetables  which  somebody  from  the  mainland 
desired  to  sell,  was  permitted,  without  being  chal- 
lenged or  interfered  with,  to  row  up  alongside  the 
largest  vessel  of  the  fleet,  on  which  there  were  some 
armed  men  and  a  few  cannon. 

As  soon  as  Pierre*s  boat  touched  the  Spanish 
vessel,  the  buccaneers  sprang  on  board  with  their 
pistols  and  cutlasses,  and  a  savage  fight  began.  The 
Spaniards  were  surprised,  but   there  were  a  great 


The  Story  of  a  Pearl  Pirate  35 

many  more  of  them  than  there  were  pirates,  and 
they  fought  hard.  However,  the  man  who  makes 
the  attack,  and  who  is  at  the  same  time  desperate 
and  hungry,  has  a  great  advantage,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  the  buccaneers  were  masters  of  the 
vessel.  Those  of  the  Spaniards  who  were  not 
killed,  were  forced  into  the  service  of  their  captors, 
and  Pierre  found  himself  in  command  of  a  very 
good  vessel. 

Now  it  so  happened  that  the  man-of-war  was  so 
far  away  that  she  knew  nothing  of  this  fight  on  board 
one  of  the  fleet  which  she  was  there  to  watch,  and 
if  she  had  known  of  it,  she  would  not  have  been 
able  to  give  any  assistance,  for  there  was  no  wind 
by  which  she  could  sail  to  the  mouth  of  the  river. 
Therefore,  so  far  as  she  was  concerned,  Pierre  con- 
sidered himself  safe. 

But  although  he  had  captured  a  Spanish  ship,  he 
was  not  so  foolish  as  to  haul  down  her  flag,  and  run 
up  his  own  in  her  place.  He  had  had  very  good 
success  so  far,  but  he  was  not  satisfied.  It  was 
quite  probable  that  there  was  a  rich  store  of  pearls 
on  board  the  vessel  he  had  taken,  but  on  the  other 
vessels  of  the  fleet  there  were  many  more  pearls, 
and  these  he  wanted  if  he  could  get  them.  In  fact, 
he  conceived  the  grand  idea  of  capturing  the  whole 
fleet. 

But  it  would  be  impossible  for  Pierre  to  attempt 


26       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

anything  on  such  a  magnificent  scale  until  he  had 
first  disposed  of  the  man-of-war,  and  as  he  had  now 
a  good  strong  ship,  with  a  much  larger  crew  than 
that  with  which  he  had  set  out,  —  for  the  Spanish 
prisoners  would  be  obliged  to  man  the  guns  and 
help  in  every  way  to  fight  their  countrymen,  — 
Pierre  determined  to  attack  the  man-of-war. 

A  land  wind  began  to  blow,  which  enabled 
him  to  make  very  fair  headway  out  to  sea.  The 
Spanish  colors  were  flying  from  his  topmast,  and  he 
hoped  to  be  able,  without  being  suspected  of  any 
evil  designs,  to  get  so  near  to  the  man-of-war  that 
he  might  run  alongside  and  boldly  board  her. 

But  something  now  happened  which  Pierre  could 
not  have  expected.  When  the  commander  of  the 
war- vessel  perceived  that  one  of  the  fleet  under  his 
charge  was  leaving  her  companions  and  putting  out 
to  sea,  he  could  imagine  no  reason  for  such  extraor- 
dinary conduct,  except  that  she  was  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  fact  that  the  wind  had  not  yet  reached 
his  vessel,  and  was  trying  to  run  away  with  the 
pearls  she  had  on  board.  From  these  ready  sus- 
picions we  may  imagine  that,  at  that  time,  the 
robbers  who  robbed  robbers  were  not  all  bucca- 
neers. 

Soon  after  the  Spanish  captain  perceived  that  one 
of  his  fleet  was  making  his  way  out  of  the  river,  the 
wind  reached  his  vessel,  and  he  immediately  set  all 


"They  set  all  sail,  and  there  was  a  fine  sea-chase."  — p.  37, 


The  Story  of  a  Pearl  Pirate  37 

sail  and  started  in  pursuit  of  the  rascals,  whom  he 
supposed  to  be  his  dishonest  countrymen. 

The  breeze  freshened  rapidly,  and  when  Pierre 
and  his  men  saw  that  the  man-of-war  was  coming 
toward  them  at  a  good  rate  of  speed,  showing  plainly 
that  she  had  suspicions  of  them,  they  gave  up  all 
hope  of  running  alongside  of  her  and  boarding  her, 
and  concluded  that  the  best  thing  they  could  do 
would  be  to  give  up  their  plan  of  capturing  the 
pearl-fishing  fleet,  and  get  away  with  the  ship  they 
had  taken,  and  whatever  it  had  on  board.  So  they 
set  all  sail,  and  there  was  a  fine  sea-chase. 

The  now  frightened  buccaneers  were  too  anxious 
to  get  away.  They  not  only  put  on  all  the  sail 
which  the  vessel  could  carry,  but  they  put  on  more. 
The  wind  blew  harder,  and  suddenly  down  came  the 
mainmast  with  a  crash.  This  stopped  the  chase, 
and  the  next  act  in  the  performance  would  have  to 
be  a  sea-fight.  Pierre  and  his  buccaneers  were  good 
at  that  sort  of  thing,  and  when  the  man-of-war 
came  up,  there  was  a  terrible  time  on  board  those 
two  vessels.  But  the  Spaniards  were  the  stronger, 
and  the  buccaneers  were  defeated. 

There  must  have  been  something  in  the  daring 
courage  of  this  Frenchman  and  his  little  band  of 
followers,  which  gave  him  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Spanish  captain,  for  there  was  no  other  reason  for 
the  good  treatment  which  the  buccaneers  received. 


38       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

They  were  not  put  to  the  sword  nor  thrown 
overboard,  not  sent  on  shore  and  made  to  work  as 
slaves,  —  three  very  common  methods  of  treating 
prisoners  in  those  days.  But  they  were  all  set  free, 
and  put  on  land,  where  they  might  go  where  they 
pleased. 

This  unfortunate  result  of  the  bold  enterprise 
undertaken  by  Pierre  Fran90is  was  deeply  deplored, 
not  only  at  Tortuga,  but  in  England  and  in  France. 
If  this  bold  buccaneer  had  captured  the  pearl  fleet, 
it  would  have  been  a  victory  that  would  have  made 
a  hero  of  him  on  each  side  of  the  Atlantic,  but  had 
he  even  been  able  to  get  away  with  the  one  vessel 
he  had  seized,  he  would  have  been  a  rich  man,  and 
might  have  retired  to  a  life  of  ease  and  affluence ; 
the  vessel  he  had  captured  proved  to  be  one  of  the 
richest  laden  of  the  whole  fleet,  and  not  only  in 
the  heart  of  Pierre  and  his  men,  but  among  his 
sympathizers  in  Europe  and  America,  there  was 
great  disappointment  at  the  loss  of  that  mainmast, 
which,  until  it  cracked,  was  carrying  him  forward  to 
fame  and  fortune. 


Chapter   VI 

The  Surprising  Adventures  of  Bartholemy 

XPortuguez 
S  we  have  seen  that  the  buccaneers  were 
mainly  English,  French,  and  Dutch  sailors, 
who  were  united  to  make  a  common  pirati- 
cal warfare  upon  the  Spaniards  in  the  West  Indies, 
it  may  seem  a  little  strange  to  find  a  man  from  Por- 
tugal who  seemed  to  be  on  the  wrong  side  of  this 
peculiar  fight  which  was  going  on  in  the  new 
world  between  the  sailors  of  Northern  and  South- 
ern Europe.  But  although  Portugal  is  such  a  close 
neighbor  of  Spain,  the  two  countries  have  often  been 
at  war  with  each  other,  and  their  interests  are  by  no 
means  the  same.  The  only  advantage  that  Portugal 
could  expect  from  the  newly  discovered  treasures  of 
the  West  were  those  which  her  seafaring  men,  act- 
ing with  the  seafaring  men  of  other  nations,  should 
wrest  from  Spanish  vessels  homeward  bound. 

Consequently,  there  were  Portuguese  among  the 
pirates  of  those  days.  Among  these  was  a  man 
named  Bartholemy  Portuguez,  a  famous  flihustier, 

39 


40       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

It  may  be  here  remarked  that  the  name  of  bucca- 
neer was  chiefly  affected  by  the  English  adventurers 
on  our  coast,  while  the  French  members  of  the  profes- 
sion often  preferred  the  name  of  "flibustier."  This 
word,  which  has  since  been  corrupted  into  our  famil- 
iar "  filibuster,"  is  said  to  have  been  originally  a  cor- 
ruption, being  nothing  more  than  the  French  method 
of  pronouncing  the  word  "  freebooters,"  which  title 
had  long  been  used  for  independent  robbers. 

Thus,  although  Bartholemy  called  himself  a  fli- 
bustier,  he  was  really  a  buccaneer,  and  his  name  came 
to  be  known  all  over  the  Caribbean  Sea.  From 
the  accounts  we  have  of  him  it  appears  that  he  did 
not  start  out  on  his  career  of  piracy  as  a  poor  man. 
He  had  some  capital  to  invest  in  the  business,  and 
when  he  went  over  to  the  West  Indies  he  took 
with  him  a  small  ship,  armed  with  four  small  can- 
non, and  manned  by  a  crew  of  picked  men,  many 
of  them  no  doubt  professional  robbers,  and  the 
others  anxious  for  practice  in  this  most  alluring 
vocation,  for  the  gold  fields  of  California  were 
never  more  attractive  to  the  bold  and  hardy  adven- 
turers of  our  country,  than  were  the  gold  fields  of 
the  sea  to  the  buccaneers  and  flibustiers  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

When  Bartholemy  reached  the  Caribbean  Sea  he 
probably  first  touched  at  Tortuga,  the  pirates*  head- 
quarters, and  then  sailed  out  very  much  as  if  he 


Adventures  of  Bartholemy  Portuguez       41 

had  been  a  fisherman  going  forth  to  see  what  he 
could  catch  on  the  sea.  He  cruised  about  on 
the  track  generally  taken  by  treasure  ships  going 
from  the  mainland  to  the  Havanas,  or  the  island 
of  Hispaniola,  and  when  at  last  he  sighted  a  vessel 
in  the  distance,  it  was  not  long  before  he  and  his 
men  had  made  up  their  minds  that  if  they  were  to 
have  any  sport  that  day  it  would  be  with  what 
might  be  called  most  decidedly  a  game  fish,  for 
the  ship  slowly  sailing  toward  them  was  a  large 
Spanish  vessel,  and  from  her  portholes  there  pro- 
truded the  muzzles  of  at  least  twenty  cannon.  Of 
course,  they  knew  that  such  a  vessel  would  have  a 
much  larger  crew  than  their  own,  and,  altogether, 
Bartholemy  was  very  much  in  the  position  of  a  man 
who  should  go  out  to  harpoon  a  sturgeon,  and  who 
should  find  himself  confronted  by  a  vicious  sword- 
fish. 

The  Spanish  merchantmen  of  that  day  were  gen- 
erally well  armed,  for  getting  home  safely  across 
the  Atlantic  was  often  the  most  difficult  part  of  the 
treasure-seeking.  There  were  many  of  these  ships, 
which,  although  they  did  not  belong  to  the  Spanish 
navy,  might  almost  be  designated  as  men-of-war, 
and  it  was  one  of  these  with  which  our  flibustier 
had  now  met. 

But  pirates  and  fishermen  cannot  aflford  to  pick 
and  choose.     They  must  take  what  comes  to  them 


42       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

and  make  the  best  of  it,  and  this  is  exactly  the  way 
in  which  the  matter  presented  itself  to  Bartholemy 
and  his  men.  They  held  one  of  their  councils 
around  the  mast,  and  after  an  address  from  their 
leader,  they  decided  that  come  what  may,  they  must 
attack  that  Spanish  vessel. 

So  the  little  pirate  sailed  boldly  toward  the  big 
Spaniard,  and  the  latter  vessel,  utterly  astonished 
at  the  audacity  of  this  attack,  —  for  the  pirates'  flag 
was  flying,  —  lay  to,  head  to  the  wind,  and  waited, 
the  gunners  standing  by  their  cannon.  When  the 
pirates  had  come  near  enough  to  see  and  under- 
stand the  size  and  power  of  the  vessel  they  had 
thought  of  attacking,  they  did  not,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  put  about  and  sail  away  at  the  best 
of  their  vessel's  speed,  but  they  kept  straight  on 
their  course  as  if  they  had  been  about  to  fall  upon 
a  great,  unwieldy  merchantman,  manned  by  com- 
mon sailors. 

Perceiving  the  foolhardiness  of  the  little  vessel, 
the  Spanish  commander  determined  to  give  it  a  les- 
son which  would  teach  its  captain  to  understand  bet- 
ter the  relative  power  of  great  vessels  and  little  ones, 
so,  as  soon  as  the  pirates'  vessel  was  near  enough, 
he  ordered  a  broadside  fired  upon  it.  The  Spanish 
ship  had  a  great  many  people  on  board.  It  had 
a  crew  of  seventy  men,  and  besides  these  there  were 
some  passengers,  and  regular  marines,  and  knowing 


Adventures  of  Bartholemy  Portuguez       43 

that  the  captain  had  determined  to  fire  upon  the 
approaching  vessel,  everybody  had  gathered  on  deck 
to  see  the  little  pirate  ship  go  down. 

But  the  ten  great  cannon-balls  which  were  shot 
out  at  Bartholemy's  little  craft  all  missed  their  aim, 
and  before  the  guns  could  be  reloaded  or  the  great 
ship  be  got  around  so  as  to  deliver  her  other  broad- 
side, the  pirate  vessel  was  alongside  of  her.  Bar- 
tholemy had  fired  none  of  his  cannon.  Such  guns 
were  useless  against  so  huge  a  foe.  What  he  was 
after  was  a  hand-to-hand  combat  on  the  deck  of  the 
Spanish  ship. 

The  pirates  were  all  ready  for  hot  work.  They 
had  thrown  aside  their  coats  and  shirts  as  if  each 
of  them  were  going  into  a  prize  fight,  and,  with  their 
cutlasses  in  their  hands,  and  their  pistols  and  knives 
in  their  belts,  they  scrambled  like  monkeys  up 
the  sides  of  the  great  ship.  But  Spaniards  are 
brave  men  and  good  fighters,  and  there  were  more 
than  twice  as  many  of  them  as  there  were  of  the 
pirates,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  latter  found 
out  that  they  could  not  capture  that  vessel  by 
boarding  it.  So  over  the  side  they  tumbled  as  fast 
as  they  could  go,  leaving  some  of  their  number 
dead  and  wounded  behind  them.  They  jumped 
into  their  own  vessel,  and  then  they  put  off  to  a 
short  distance  to  take  breath  and  get  ready  for 
a  different  kind  of  a  fight.     The  triumphant  Span- 


44       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

iards  now  prepared  to  get  rid  of  this  boat  load  of 
half-naked  wild  beasts,  which  they  could  easily  do 
if  they  should  take  better  aim  with  their  cannon 
than  they  had  done  before. 

But  to  their  amazement  they  soon  found  that 
they  could  do  nothing  with  the  guns,  nor  were  they 
able  to  work  their  ship  so  as  to  get  it  into  position 
for  effectual  shots.  Bartholemy  and  his  men  laid 
aside  their  cutlasses  and  their  pistols,  and  took  up 
their  muskets,  with  which  they  were  well  provided. 
Their  vessel  lay  within  a  very  short  range  of  the 
Spanish  ship,  and  whenever  a  man  could  be  seen 
through  the  portholes,  or  showed  himself  in  the 
rigging  or  anywhere  else  where  it  was  necessary  to 
go  in  order  to  work  the  ship,  he  made  himself 
a  target  for  the  good  aim  of  the  pirates.  The 
pirate  vessel  could  move  about  as  it  pleased,  for  it 
required  but  a  few  men  to  manage  it,  and  so  it 
kept  out  of  the  way  of  the  Spanish  guns,  and  its 
best  marksmen,  crouching  close  to  the  deck,  fired 
and  fired  whenever  a  Spanish  head  was  to  be 
seen. 

For  five  long  hours  this  unequal  contest  was  kept 
up.  It  might  have  reminded  one  of  a  man  with  a 
slender  rod  and  a  long,  delicate  line,  who  had  hooked 
a  big  salmon.  The  man  could  not  pull  in  the  sal- 
mon, but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  salmon  could  not 
hurt  the  man,  and  in  the  course  of  time  the  big  fish 


•*  The  best  marksmen,  crouching  close  to  the  deck,  fired  and  fired 
whenever  a  Spanish  head  was  to  be  seen.'*  — p.  44. 


i  u> 


Adventures  of  Bartholemy  Portuguez       45 

would  be  tired  out,  and  the  man  would  get  out  his 
landing-net  and  scoop  him  in. 

Now  Bartholemy  thought  he  could  scoop  in  the 
Spanish  vessel.  So  many  of  her  men  had  been  shot 
that  the  two  crews  would  be  more  nearly  equal. 
So,  boldly,  he  ran  his  vessel  alongside  the  big  ship 
and  again  boarded  her.  Now  there  was  another 
great  fight  on  the  decks.  The  Spaniards  had  ceased 
to  be  triumphant,  but  they  had  become  desperate, 
and  in  the  furious  combat  ten  of  the  pirates  were 
killed  and  four  wounded.  But  the  Spaniards  fared 
worse  than  that ;  more  than  half  of  the  men  who 
had  not  been  shot  by  the  pirates  went  down  before 
their  cutlasses  and  pistols,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
Bartholemy  had  captured  the  great  Spanish  ship. 

It  was  a  fearful  and  a  bloody  victory  he  had  gained. 
A  great  part  of  his  own  men  were  lying  dead  or 
helpless  on  the  deck,  and  of  the  Spaniards  only  forty 
were  left  alive,  and  these,  it  appears  from  the  ac- 
counts, must  have  been  nearly  all  wounded  or  dis- 
abled. 

It  was  a  common  habit  among  the  buccaneers,  as 
well  as  among  the  Spaniards,  to  kill  all  prisoners 
who  were  not  able  to  work  for  them,  but  Bartholemy 
does  not  seem  to  have  arrived  at  the  stage  of  de- 
pravity necessary  for  this.  So  he  determined  not 
to  kill  his  prisoners,  but  he  put  them  all  into  a  boat 
and  let  them  go  where  they  pleased ;  while  he  was 


46       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

left  with  fifteen  men  to  work  a  great  vessel  which 
required  a  crew  of  five  times  that  number. 

But  the  men  who  could  conquer  and  capture  a  ship 
against  such  enormous  odds,  felt  themselves  fully- 
capable  of  working  her,  even  with  their  little  crew. 
Before  doing  anything  in  the  way  of  navigation  they 
cleared  the  decks  of  the  dead  bodies,  taking  from 
them  all  watches,  trinkets,  and  money,  and  then 
went  below  to  see  what  sort  of  a  prize  they  had 
gained.  They  found  it  a  very  good  one  indeed. 
There  were  seventy-five  thousand  crowns  in  money, 
besides  a  cargo  of  cocoa  worth  five  thousand  more, 
and  this,  combined  with  the  value  of  the  ship  and 
all  its  fittings,  was  a  great  fortune  for  those  days. 

When  the  victorious  pirates  had  counted  their 
gains  and  had  mended  the  sails  and  rigging  of  their 
new  ship,  they  took  what  they  wanted  out  of  their 
own  vessel,  and  left  her  to  sink  or  to  float  as  she 
pleased,  and  then  they  sailed  away  in  the  direction 
of  the  island  of  Jamaica.  But  the  winds  did  not 
suit  them,  and,  as  their  crew  was  so  very  small,  they 
could  not  take  advantage  of  light  breezes  as  they 
could  have  done  if  they  had  had  men  enough.  Con- 
sequently they  were  obliged  to  stop  to  get  water 
before  they  reached  the  friendly  vicinity  of  Jamaica. 

They  cast  anchor  at  Cape  St.  Anthony  on  the 
west  end  of  Cuba.  After  a  considerable  delay  at 
this  place  they  started  out  again  to  resume  their 


Adventures  of  Bartholemy   Portuguez        47 

voyage,  but  it  was  not  long  before  they  perceived, 
to  their  horror,  three  Spanish  vessels  coming 
towards  them.  It  was  impossible  for  a  very  large 
ship,  manned  by  an  extremely  small  crew,  to  sail  away 
from  those  fully  equipped  vessels,  and  as  to  attempt- 
ing to  defend  themselves  against  the  overwhelming 
power  of  the  antagonists,  that  was  too  absurd  to 
be  thought  of  even  by  such  a  reckless  fellow  as 
Bartholemy.  So,  when  the  ship  was  hailed  by  the 
Spanish  vessels  he  lay  to  and  waited  until  a  boat's 
crew  boarded  him.  With  the  eye  of  a  nautical  man 
the  Spanish  captain  of  one  of  the  ships  perceived 
that  something  was  the  matter  with  this  vessel,  for 
its  sails  and  rigging  were  terribly  cut  up  in  the  long 
fight  through  which  it  had  passed,  and  of  course 
he  wanted  to  know  what  had  happened.  When  he 
found  that  the  great  ship  was  in  the  possession  of  a 
very -small  body  of  pirates,  Bartholemy  and  his  men 
were  immediately  made  prisoners,  taken  on  board 
the  Spanish  ship,  stripped  of  everything  they  pos- 
sessed, even  their  clothes,  and  shut  up  in  the  hold. 
A  crew  from  the  Spanish  ships  was  sent  to  man  the 
vessel  which  had  been  captured,  and  then  the  little 
fleet  set  sail  for  San  Francisco  in  Campeachy. 

An  hour  had  worked  a  very  great  change  in  the  for- 
tunes of  Bartholemy  and  his  men  ;  in  the  fine  cabin 
of  their  grand  prize  they  had  feasted  and  sung,  and 
had  gloried  over  their  wonderful  success,  and  now, 


48       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

in  the  vessel  of  their  captor,  they  were  shut  up  in 
the  dark,  to  be  enslaved  or  perhaps  executed. 

But  it  is  not  likely  that  any  one  of  them  either 
despaired  or  repented;  these  are  sentiments  very 
little  in  use  by  pirates. 


Chapter  VII 
The  Pirate  who  could  not  Swim 

WHEN  the  little  fleet  of  Spanish  vessels, 
including  the  one  which  had  been  cap- 
tured by  Bartholemy  Portuguez  and  his 
men,  were  on  their  way  to  Campeachy,  they  met 
with  very  stormy  weather  so  that  they  were  sepa- 
rated, and  the  ship  which  contained  Bartholemy  and 
his  companions  arrived  first  at  the  port  for  which 
they  were  bound. 

The  captain,  who  had  Bartholemy  and  the  others 
in  charge,  did  not  know  what  an  important  capture 
he  had  made ;  he  supposed  that  these  pirates  were 
ordinary  buccaneers,  and  it  appears  that  it  was  his 
intention  to  keep  them  as  his  own  private  prisoners, 
for,  as  they  were  all  very  able-bodied  men,  they 
would  be  extremely  useful  on  a  ship.  But  when 
his  vessel  was  safely  moored,  and  it  became  known 
in  the  town  that  he  had  a  company  of  pirates  on 
board,  a  great  many  people  came  from  shore  to  see 
these  savage  men,  who  were  probably  looked  upon 
■  49 


50       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

very  much  as  if  they  were  a  menagerie  of  wild  beasts 
brought  from  foreign  lands. 

Among  the  sightseers  who  came  to  the  ship  was 
a  merchant  of  the  town  who  had  seen  Bartholemy 
before,  and  who  had  heard  of  his  various  exploits. 
He  therefore  went  to  the  captain  of  the  vessel  and 
informed  him  that  he  had  on  board  one  of  the  very 
worst  pirates  in  the  whole  world,  whose  wicked 
deeds  were  well  known  in  various  parts  of  the  West 
Indies,  and  who  ought  immediately  to  be  delivered 
up  to  the  civil  authorities.  This  proposal,  however, 
met  with  no  favor  from  the  Spanish  captain,  who 
had  found  Bartholemy  a  very  quiet  man,  and  could 
see  that  he  was  a  very  strong  one,  and  he  did  not 
at  all  desire  to  give  up  such  a  valuable  addition  to 
his  crew.  But  the  merchant  grew  very  angry,  for 
he  knew  that  Bartholemy  had  inflicted  great  injury 
on  Spanish  commerce,  and  as  the  captain  would  not 
listen  to  him,  he  went  to  the  Governor  of  the  town 
and  reported  the  case.  When  this  dignitary  heard 
the  story  he  immediately  sent  a  party  of  oflicers  to 
the  ship,  and  commanded  the  captain  to  deliver  the 
pirate  leader  into  their  charge.  The  other  men 
were  left  where  they  were,  but  Bartholemy  was 
taken  away  and  confined  in  another  ship.  The 
merchant,  who  seemed  to  know  a  great  deal  about 
him,  informed  the  authorities  that  this  terrible  pirate 
had  been  captured  several  times,  but  that  he  had 


The  Pirate  who  could  not  Swim  51 

always  managed  to  escape,  and,  therefore,  he  was 
put  in  irons,  and  preparations  were  made  to  execute 
him  on  the  next  day ;  for,  from  what  he  had  heard, 
the  Governor  considered  that  this  pirate  was  no 
better  than  a  wild  beast,  and  that  he  should  be  put 
to  death  without  even  the  formality  of  a  trial. 

But  there  was  a  Spanish  soldier  on  board  the  ship 
who  seemed  to  have  had  some  pity,  or  perhaps  some 
admiration,  for  the  daring  pirate,  and  he  thought 
that  if  he  were  to  be  hung  the  next  day  it  was  no 
more  than  right  to  let  him  know  it,  so  that  when 
he  went  in  to  take  some  food  to  Bartholemy  he 
told  him  what  was  to  happen. 

Now  this  pirate  captain  was  a  man  who  always 
wanted  to  have  a  share  in  what  was  to  happen,  and 
he  immediately  racked  his  brain  to  find  out  what 
he  could  do  in  this  case.  He  had  never  been  in  a 
more  desperate  situation,  but  he  did  not  lose  heart, 
and  immediately  set  to  work  to  free  himself  from 
his  irons,  which  were  probably  very  clumsy  affairs. 
At  last,  caring  little  how  much  he  scratched  and  tore 
his  skin,  he  succeeded  in  getting  rid  of  his  fetters, 
and  could  move  about  as  freely  as  a  tiger  in  a 
cage.  To  get  out  of  this  cage  was  Bartholemy's 
first  object.  It  would  be  comparatively  easy,  be- 
cause in  the  course  of  time  some  one  would  come 
into  the  hold,  and  the  athletic  buccaneer  thought 
that  he  could  easily  get  the  better  of  whoever  might 


52       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

open  the  hatch.  But  the  next  act  in  this  truly 
melodramatic  performance  would  be  a  great  deal 
more  difficult ;  for  in  order  to  escape  from  the  ship 
it  would  be  absolutely  necessary  for  Bartholemy  to 
swim  to  shore,  and  he  did  not  know  how  to  swim, 
which  seems  a  strange  failing  in  a  hardy  sailor  with 
so  many  other  nautical  accomplishments.  In  the 
rough  hold  where  he  was  shut  up,  our  pirate,  peer- 
ing about,  anxious  and  earnest,  discovered  two  large 
earthen  jars  in  which  wine  had  been  brought  from 
Spain,  and  with  these  he  determined  to  make  a  sort 
of  life-preserver.  He  found  some  pieces  of  oiled 
cloth,  which  he  tied  tightly  over  the^  open  mouths 
of  the  jars  and  fastened  them  with  cords.  He  was 
satisfied  that  this  unwieldy  contrivance  would  sup- 
port him  in  the  water. 

Among  other  things  he  had  found  in  his  rum- 
magings about  the  hold  was  an  old  knife,  and  with 
this  in  his  hand  he  now  sat  waiting  for  a  good  oppor- 
tunity to  attack  his  sentinel. 

This  came  soon  after  nightfall.  A  man  de- 
scended with  a  lantern  to  see  that  the  prisoner 
was  still  secure,  —  let  us  hope  that  it  was  not 
the  soldier  who  had  kindly  informed  him  of  his 
fate,  —  and  as  soon  as  he  was  fairly  in  the  hold 
Bartholemy  sprang  upon  him.  There  was  a  fierce 
struggle,  but  the  pirate  was  quick  and  powerful, 
and  the  sentinel  was  soon  dead.     Then,  carrying 


•**  The  pirate  soon  floated  out  of  sight  and  hearing."  —  p.  53. 


The  Pirate  who  could  not  Swim  53 

his  two  jars,  Bartholemy  climbed  swiftly  and  noise- 
lessly up  the  short  ladder,  came  out  on  deck  in  the 
darkness,  made  a  rush  toward  the  side  of  the  ship, 
and  leaped  overboard.  For  a  moment  he  sank 
below  the  surface,  but  the  two  air-tight  jars  quickly 
rose  and  bore  him  up  with  them.  There  was  a 
bustle  on  board  the  ship,  there  was  some  random 
firing  of  muskets  in  the  direction  of  the  splashing 
which  the  watch  had  heard,  but  none  of  the  balls 
struck  the  pirate  or  his  jars,  and  he  soon  floated 
out  of  sight  and  hearing.  Kicking  out  with  his 
legs,  and  paddling  as  well  as  he  could  with  one 
hand  while  he  held  on  to  the  jars  with  the  other, 
he  at  last  managed  to  reach  the  land,  and  ran  as 
fast  as  he  could  into  the  dark  woods  beyond  the 
town. 

Bartholemy  was  now  greatly  in  fear  that,  when 
his  escape  was  discovered,  he  would  be  tracked  by 
bloodhounds,  —  for  these  dogs  were  much  used  by 
the  Spaniards  in  pursuing  escaping  slaves  or  prison- 
ers, —  and  he  therefore  did  not  feel  safe  in  immedi- 
ately making  his  way  along  the  coast,  which  was 
what  he  wished  to  do.  If  the  hounds  should  get 
upon  his  trail,  he  was  a  lost  man.  The  desperate 
pirate,  therefore,  determined  to  give  the  blood- 
hounds no  chance  to  follow  him,  and  for  three 
days  he  remained  in  a  marshy  forest,  in  the  dark 
recesses   of  which   he  could   hide,  and  where  the 


54       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

water,  which  covered  the  ground,  prevented  the 
dogs  from  following  his  scent.  He  had  nothing 
to  eat  except  a  few  roots  of  water-plants,  but  he 
was  accustomed  to  privation,  and  these  kept  him 
alive.  Often  he  heard  the  hounds  baying  on  the 
dry  land  adjoining  the  marsh,  and  sometimes  he 
saw  at  night  distant  torches,  which  he  was  sure 
were  carried  by  men  who  were  hunting  for  him. 

But  at  last  the  pursuit  seemed  to  be  given  up; 
and  hearing  no  more  dogs  and  seeing  no  more 
flickering  lights,  Bartholemy  left  the  marsh  and 
set  out  on  his  long  journey  down  the  coast.  The 
place  he  wished  to  reach  was  called  Golpho  Triste, 
which  was  forty  leagues  away,  but  where  he  had 
reason  to  suppose  he  would  find  some  friends. 
When  he  came  out  from  among  the  trees,  he 
mounted  a  small  hill  and  looked  back  upon  the 
town.  The  public  square  was  lighted,  and  there 
in  the  middle  of  it  he  saw  the  gallows  which  had 
been  erected  for  his  execution,  and  this  sight,  doubt- 
less, animated  him  very  much  during  the  first  part 
of  his  journey. 

The  terrible  trials  and  hardships  which  Bar- 
tholemy experienced  during  his  tramp  along  the 
coast  were  such  as  could  have  been  endured  only 
by  one  of  the  strongest  and  toughest  of  men.  He 
had  found  in  the  marsh  an  old  gourd,  or  calabash, 
which  he  had  filled  with  fresh  water,  —  for  he  could 


The  Pirate  who  could  not  Swim  5 J 

expect  nothing  but  sea- water  during  his  journey,  — 
and  as  for  solid  food  he  had  nothing  but  the  raw 
shellfish  which  he  found  upon  the  rocks ;  but  after 
a  diet  of  roots,  shellfish  must  have  been  a  very 
agreeable  change,  and  they  gave  him  all  the  strength 
and  vigor  he  needed.  Very  often  he  found  streams 
and  inlets  which  he  was  obliged  to  ford,  and  as  he 
could  see  that  they  were  always  filled  with  alligators, 
the  passage  of  them  was  not  very  pleasant.  His 
method  of  getting  across  one  of  these  narrow  streams, 
was  to  hurl  rocks  into  the  water  until  he  had  fright- 
ened away  the  alligators  immediately  in  front  of 
him,  and  then,  when  he  had  made  for  himself  what 
seemed  to  be  a  free  passage,  he  would  dash  in  and 
hurry  across. 

At  other  times  great  forests  stretched  down  to 
the  very  coast,  and  through  these  he  was  obliged  to 
make  his  way,  although  he  could  hear  the  roars  and 
screams  of  wild  beasts  all  about  him.  Any  one  who 
is  afraid  to  go  down  into  a  dark  cellar  to  get  some 
apples  from  a  barrel  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  can 
have  no  idea  of  the  sort  of  mind  possessed  by 
Bartholemy  Portuguez.  The  animals  might  howl 
around  him  and  glare  at  him  with  their  shining 
eyes,  and  the  alligators  might  lash  the  water  into 
foam  with  their  great  tails,  but  he  was  bound  for 
Golpho  Triste  and  was  not  to  be  stopped  on  his 
way  by  anything  alive. 


56       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

But  at  last  he  came  to  something  not  alive,  which 
seemed  to  be  an  obstacle  which  would  certainly  get 
the  better  of  him.  This  was  a  wide  river,  flowing 
through  the  inland  country  into  the  sea.  He 
made  his  way  up  the  shore  of  this  river  for  a  con- 
siderable distance,  but  it  grew  but  little  narrower, 
and  he  could  see  no  chance  of  getting  across.  He 
could  not  swim  and  he  had  no  wine-jars  now  with 
which  to  buoy  himself  up,  and  if  he  had  been  able 
to  swim  he  would  probably  have  been  eaten  up  by 
alligators  soon  after  he  left  the  shore.  But  a  man 
in  his  situation  would  not  be  likely  to  give  up 
readily ;  he  had  done  so  much  that  he  was  ready 
to  do  more  if  he  could  only  find  out  what  to  do. 

Now  a  piece  of  good  fortune  happened  to  him, 
although  to  an  ordinary  traveller  it  might  have  been 
considered  a  matter  of  no  importance  whatever. 
On  the  edge  of  the  shore,  where  it  had  floated 
down  from  some  region  higher  up  the  river,  Bar- 
tholemy  perceived  an  old  board,  in  which  there 
were  some  long  and  heavy  rusty  nails.  Greatly 
encouraged  by  this  discovery  the  indefatigable 
traveller  set  about  a  work  which  resembled  that 
of  the  old  woman  who  wanted  a  needle,  and  who 
began  to  rub  a  crow-bar  on  a  stone  in  order  to 
reduce  it  to  the  proper  size.  Bartholemy  carefully 
knocked  all  the  nails  out  of  the  board,  and  then 
finding  a  large  flat  stone,  he  rubbed  down  one  of 


The  Pirate  who  could  not  Swim  57 

them  until  he  had  formed  it  into  the  shape  of  a 
rude  knife  blade,  which  he  made  as  sharp  as  he 
could.  Then  with  these  tools  he  undertook  the 
construction  of  a  raft,  working  away  like  a  beaver, 
and  using  the  sharpened  nails  instead  of  his  teeth. 
He  cut  down  a  number  of  small  trees,  and  when  he 
had  enough  of  these  slender  trunks  he  bound  them 
together  with  reeds  and  osiers,  which  he  found  on 
the  river  bank.  So,  after  infinite  labor  and  trial  he 
constructed  a  raft  which  would  bear  him  on  the 
surface  of  the  water.  When  he  had  launched  this 
he  got  upon  it,  gathering  up  his  legs  so  as  to  keep 
out  of  reach  of  the  alligators,  and  with  a  long  pole 
pushed  himself  oflF  from  shore.  Sometimes  paddling 
and  sometimes  pushing  his  pole  against  the  bottom, 
he  at  last  got  across  the  river  and  took  up  his  jour- 
ney upon  dry  land. 

But  our  pirate  had  not  progressed  very  far  upon 
the  other  side  of  the  river  before  he  met  with  a  new 
difficulty  of  a  very  formidable  character.  This  was 
a  great  forest  of  mangrove  trees,  which  grow  in 
muddy  and  watery  places  and  which  have  many 
roots,  some  coming  down  from  the  branches,  and 
some  extending  themselves  in  a  hopeless  tangle  in 
the  water  and  mud.  It  would  have  been  impos- 
sible for  even  a  stork  to  walk  through  this  forest, 
but  as  there  was  no  way  of  getting  around  it  Bar- 
tholemy  determined  to  go  through  it,  even  if  he 


58       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

could  not  walk.  No  athlete  of  the  present  day,  no 
matter  if  he  should  be  a  most  accomplished  circus- 
man,  could  reasonably  expect  to  perform  the  feat 
which  this  bold  pirate  successfully  accomplished. 
For  five  or  six  leagues  he  went  through  that  man- 
grove forest,  never  once  setting  his  foot  upon  the 
ground,  —  by  which  is  meant  mud,  water,  and  roots, 
—  but  swinging  himself  by  his  hands  and  arms, 
from  branch  to  branch,  as  if  he  had  been  a  great  ape, 
only  resting  occasionally,  drawing  himself  upon  a 
stout  limb  where  he  might  sit  for  a  while  and  get 
his  breath.  If  he  had  slipped  while  he  was  swinging 
from  one  limb  to  another  and  had  gone  down  into 
the  mire  and  roots  beneath  him,  it  is  likely  that  he 
would  never  have  been  able  to  get  out  alive.  But 
he  made  no  slips.  He  might  not  have  had  the 
agility  and  grace  of  a  trapeze  performer,  but  his 
grasp  was  powerful  and  his  arms  were  strong,  and 
so  he  swung  and  clutched,  and  clutched  and  swung, 
until  he  had  gone  entirely  through  the  forest  and 
had  come  out  on  the  open  coast. 


Chapter  VIII 
How  Bartholemy  rested  Himself 

IT  was  full  two  weeks  from  the  time  that  Bar- 
tholemy began  his  most  adventurous  and  diffi- 
cult journey  before  he  reached  the  little  town 
of  Golpho  Triste,  where,  as  he  had  hoped,  he  found 
some  of  his  buccaneer  friends.  Now  that  his  hard- 
ships and  dangers  were  over,  and  when,  instead  of 
roots  and  shellfish,  he  could  sit  down  to  good, 
plentiful  meals,  and  stretch  himself  upon  a  comfort- 
able bed,  it  might  have  been  supposed  that  Barthol- 
emy would  have  given  himself  a  long  rest,  but  this 
hardy  pirate  had  no  desire  for  a  vacation  at  this 
time.  Instead  of  being  worn  out  and  exhausted 
by  his  amazing  exertions  and  semi-starvation,  he 
arrived  among  his  friends  vigorous  and  energetic 
and  exceedingly  anxious  to  recommence  business  as 
soon  as  possible.  He  told  them  of  all  that  had 
happened  to  him,  what  wonderful  good  fortune 
had  come  to  him,  and  what  terrible  bad  fortune  had 
quickly  followed  it,  and  when  he  had  related  his 
adventures  and  his  dangers  he  astonished  even  his 

59 


6o       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

piratical  friends  by  asking  them  to  furnish  him  with 
a  small  vessel  and  about  twenty  men,  in  order  that 
he  might  go  back  and  revenge  himself,  not  only  for 
what  had  happened  to  him,  but  for  what  would 
have  happened  if  he  had  not  taken  his  affairs  into 
his  own  hands. 

To  do  daring  and  astounding  deeds  is  part  of  the 
business  of  a  pirate,  and  although  it  was  an  uncom- 
monly bold  enterprise  that  Bartholemy  contem- 
plated, he  got  his  vessel  and  he  got  his  men,  and 
away  he  sailed.  After  a  voyage  of  about  eight  days 
he  came  in  sight  of  the  little  seaport  town,  and  sailing 
slowly  along  the  coast,  he  waited  until  nightfall 
before  entering  the  harbor.  Anchored  at  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  shore  was  the  great  Spanish 
ship  on  which  he  had  been  a  prisoner,  and  from 
which  he  would  have  been  taken  and  hung  in  the 
public  square ;  the  sight  of  the  vessel  filled  his  soul 
with  a  savage  fury  known  only  to  pirates  and  bull 
dogs. 

As  the  little  vessel  slowly  approached  the  great 
ship,  the  people  on  board  the  latter  thought  it  was  a 
trading-vessel  from  shore,  and  allowed  it  to  come 
alongside,  such  small  craft  seldom  coming  from  the 
sea.  But  the  moment  Bartholemy  reached  the  ship 
he  scrambled  up  its  side  almost  as  rapidly  as  he  had 
jumped  down  from  it  with  his  two  wine-jars  a  few 
weeks  before,  and  every  one  of  his   crew,  leaving 


How  Bartholemy  rested  Himself  6i 

their  own  vessel  to  take  care  of  itself,  scrambled  up 
after  him. 

Nobody  on  board  was  prepared  to  defend  the 
ship.  It  was  the  same  old  story ;  resting  quietly  in 
a  peaceful  harbor,  what  danger  had  they  to  expect  ? 
As  usual  the  pirates  had  everything  their  own  way ; 
they  were  ready  to  fight,  and  the  others  were  not, 
and  they  were  led  by  a  man  who  was  determined  to 
take  that  ship  without  giving  even  a  thought  to 
the  ordinary  alternative  of  dying  in  the  attempt. 
The  affair  was  more  of  a  massacre  than  a  combat, 
and  there  were  people  on  board  who  did  not  know 
what  was  taking  place  until  the  vessel  had  been 
captured. 

As  soon  as  Bartholemy  was  master  of  the  great 
vessel  he  gave  orders  to  slip  the  cable  and  hoist  the 
sails,  for  he  was  anxious  to  get  out  of  that  harbor 
as  quickly  as  possible.  The  fight  had  apparently 
attracted  no  attention  in  the  town,  but  there  were 
ships  in  the  port  whose  company  the  bold  buccaneer 
did  not  at  all  desire,  and  as  soon  as  possible  he  got 
his  grand  prize  under  way  and  went  sailing  out  of 
the  port. 

Now,  indeed,  was  Bartholemy  triumphant;  the 
ship  he  had  captured  was  a  finer  one  and  a  richer 
one  than  that  other  vessel  which  had  been  taken 
from  him.  It  was  loaded  with  valuable  merchan- 
dise, and  we  may  here  remark  that  for  some  reason 


$2       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

or  other  all  Spanish  vessels  of  that  day  which  were 
so  unfortunate  as  to  be  taken  by  pirates,  seemed  to 
be  richly  laden. 

If  our  bold  pirate  had  sung  wild  pirate  songs,  as 
he  passed  the  flowing  bowl  while  carousing  with  his 
crew  in  the  cabin  of  the  Spanish  vessel  he  had  first 
captured,  he  now  sang  wilder  songs,  and  passed 
more  flowing  bowls,  for  this  prize  was  a  much 
greater  one  than  the  first.  If  Bartholemy  could 
have  communicated  his  great  good  fortune  to  the 
other  buccaneers  in  the  West  Indies,  there  would 
have  been  a  boom  in  piracy  which  would  have 
threatened  great  danger  to  the  honesty  and  integ- 
rity of  the  seafaring  men  of  that  region. 

But  nobody,  not  even  a  pirate,  has  any  way  of 
finding  out  what  is  going  to  happen  next,  and  if 
Bartholemy  had  had  an  idea  of  the  fluctuations 
which  were  about  to  occur  in  the  market  in  which 
he  had  made  his  investments  he  would  have  been 
in  a  great  hurry  to  sell  all  his  stock  very  much 
below  par.  The  fluctuations  referred  to  occurred 
on  the  ocean,  near  the  island  of  Pinos,  and  came  in 
the  shape  of  great  storm  waves,  which  blew  the 
Spanish  vessel  with  all  its  rich  cargo,  and  its  trium- 
phant pirate  crew,  high  up  upon  the  cruel  rocks, 
and  wrecked  it  absolutely  and  utterly.  Bartholemy 
and  his  men  barely  managed  to  get  into  a  little 
boat,  and  row  themselves  away.     All   the  wealth 


How  Bartholemy  rested  Himself  6^ 

and  treasure  which  had  come  to  them  with  the  cap- 
ture of  the  Spanish  vessel,  all  the  power  which  the 
possession  of  that  vessel  gave  them,  and  all  the 
wild  joy  which  came  to  them  with  riches  and  power, 
were  lost  to  them  in  as  short  a  space  of  time  as  it 
had  taken  to  gain  them. 

In  the  way  of  well-defined  and  conspicuous  ups 
and  downs,  few  lives  surpassed  that  of  Bartholemy 
Portuguez.  But  after  this  he  seems,  in  the  language 
of  the  old  English  song,  "  All  in  the  downs."  He 
had  many  adventures  after  the  desperate  affair  in  the 
bay  of  Campeachy,  but  they  must  all  have  turned 
out  badly  for  him,  and,  consequently,  very  well,  it  is 
probable,  for  divers  and  sundry  Spanish  vessels,  and, 
for  the  rest  of  his  life,  he  bore  the  reputation  of  an 
unfortunate  pirate.  He  was  one  of  those  men 
whose  success  seemed  to  have  depended  entirely 
upon  his  own  exertions.  If  there  happened  to  be 
the  least  chance  of  his  doing  anything,  he  generally 
did  it ;  Spanish  cannon,  well-armed  Spanish  crews, 
manacles,  imprisonment,  the  dangers  of  the  ocean 
to  a  man  who  could  not  swim,  bloodhounds,  alliga- 
tors, wild  beasts,  awful  forests  impenetrable  to  com- 
mon men,  all  these  were  bravely  met  and  triumphed 
over  by  Bartholemy. 

But  when  he  came  to  ordinary  good  fortune,  such 
as  any  pirate  might  expect,  Bartholemy  the  Portu- 
guese found  that  he  had  no  chance  at  all.     But 


64       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

he  was  not  a  common  pirate,  and  was,  therefore, 
obliged  to  be  content  with  his  uncommon  career. 
He  eventually  settled  in  the  island  of  Jamaica,  but 
nobody  knows  what  became  of  him.  If  it  so  hap- 
pened that  he  found  himself  obliged  to  make  his 
living  by  some  simple  industry,  such  as  the  selling 
of  fruit  upon  a  street  corner,  it  is  likely  he  never 
disposed  of  a  banana  or  an  orange  unless  he  jumped 
at  the  throat  of  a  passer-by  and  compelled  him  to 
purchase.  As  for  sitting  still  and  waiting  for  cus- 
tomers to  come  to  him,  such  a  man  as  Bartholemy 
would  not  be  likely  to  do  anything  so  common- 
place. 


\ 


Chapter  IX 
A  Pirate  Author 

IN  the  days  which  we  are  considering  there  were 
all  sorts  of  pirates,  some  of  whom  gained  much 
reputation  in  one  way  and  some  in  another,  but 
there  was  one  of  them  who  had  a  disposition  different 
from  that  of  any  of  his  fellows.  He  was  a  regular 
pirate,  but  it  is  not  likely  that  he  ever  did  much  fight- 
ing, for,  as  he  took  great  pride  in  the  brave  deeds 
of  the  Brethren  of  the  Coast,  he  would  have  been 
sure  to  tell  us  of  his  own  if  he  had  ever  performed 
any.  He  was  a  mild-mannered  man,  and,  although 
he  was  a  pirate,  he  eventually  laid  aside  the  pistol, 
the  musket,  and  the  cutlass,  and  took  up  the  pen, 
—  a  very  uncommon  weapon  for  a  buccaneer. 

This  man  was  John  Esquemeling,  supposed  by 
some  to  be  a  Dutchman,  and  by  others  a  native  of 
France.  He  sailed  to  the  West  Indies  in  the  year 
1666,  in  the  service  of  the  French  West  India 
Company.  He  went  out  as  a  peaceable  merchant 
clerk,  and  had  no  more  idea  of  becoming  a  pirate 
F  65 


66       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

than  he  had  of  going  into  literature,  although  he 
finally  did  both. 

At  that  time  the  French  West  India  Company 
had  a  colonial  establishment  on  the  island  of  Tor- 
tuga,  which  was  principally  inhabited,  as  we  have 
seen  before,  by  buccaneers  in  all  their  various  grades 
and  stages,  from  beef-driers  to  pirates.  The  French 
authorities  undertook  to  supply  these  erratic  people 
with  the  goods  and  provisions  which  they  needed, 
and  built  storehouses  with  everything  necessary  for 
carrying  on  the  trade.  There  were  plenty  of  pur- 
chasers, for  the  buccaneers  were  willing  to  buy 
everything  which  could  be  brought  from  Europe. 
They  were  fond  of  good  wine,  good  groceries,  good 
firearms,  and  ammunition,  fine  cutlasses,  and  very 
often  good  clothes,  in  which  they  could  disport 
themselves  when  on  shore.  But  they  had  peculiar 
customs  and  manners,  and  although  they  were 
willing  to  buy  as  much  as  the  French  traders  had 
to  sell,  they  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  pay 
their  bills.  A  pirate  is  not  the  sort  of  a  man  who 
generally  cares  to  pay  his  bills.  When  he  gets 
goods  in  any  way,  he  wants  them  charged  to  him, 
and  if  that  charge  includes  the  features  of  robbery  and 
murder,  he  will  probably  make  no  objection.  But 
as  for  paying  good  money  for  what  is  received,  that 
is  quite  another  thing. 

That  this  was  the  state  of  feeling  on  the  island 


A  Pirate  Author  67 

of  Tortuga  was  discovered  before  very  long  by  the 
French  mercantile  agents,  who  then  applied  to  the 
mother  country  for  assistance  in  collecting  the  debts 
due  them,  and  a  body  of  men,  who  might  be  called 
collectors,  or  deputy  sheriffs,  was  sent  out  to  the 
island ;  but  although  these  officers  were  armed  with 
pistols  and  swords,  as  well  as  with  authority,  they 
could  do  nothing  with  the  buccaneers,  and  after  a 
time  the  work  of  endeavoring  to  collect  debts  from 
pirates  was  given  up.  And  as  there  was  no  profit 
in  carrying  on  business  in  this  way,  the  mercantile 
agency  was  also  given  up,  and  its  officers  were 
ordered  to  sell  out  everything  they  had  on  hand, 
and  come  home.  There  was,  therefore,  a  sale,  for 
which  cash  payments  were  demanded,  and  there 
was  a  great  bargain  day  on  the  island  of  Tortuga. 
Everything  was  disposed  of,  —  the  stock  of  mer- 
chandise on  hand,  the  tables,  the  desks,  the  station- 
ery, the  bookkeepers,  the  clerks,  and  the  errand 
boys.  The  living  items  of  the  stock  on  hand  were 
considered  to  be  property  just  as  if  they  had  been 
any  kind  of  merchandise,  and  were  sold  as  slaves. 

Now  poor  John  Esquemeling  found  himself  in 
a  sad  condition.  He  was  bought  by  one  of  the 
French  officials  who  had  been  left  on  the  island, 
and  he  described  his  new  master  as  a  veritable 
fiend.  He  was  worked  hard,  half  fed,  treated  cru- 
elly in  many  ways,  and  to  add  to  his  misery,  his 


68       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

master  tantalized  him  by  offering  to  set  him  free 
upon  the  payment  of  a  sum  of  money  equal  to 
about  three  hundred  dollars.  He  might  as  well 
have  been  asked  to  pay  three  thousand  or  three 
million  dollars,  for  he  had  not  a  penny  in  the 
world. 

At  last  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  fall  sick,  and 
his  master,  as  avaricious  as  he  was  cruel,  fearing 
that  this  creature  he  owned  might  die,  and  thus  be 
an  entire  loss  to  him,  sold  him  to  a  surgeon,  very 
much  as  one  would  sell  a  sick  horse  to  a  veterinary 
surgeon,  on  the  principle  that  he  might  make  some- 
thing out  of  the  animal  by  curing  him. 

His  new  master  treated  Esquemeling  very  well, 
and  after  he  had  taken  medicine  and  food  enough 
to  set  him  upon  his  legs,  and  had  worked  for  the 
surgeon  about  a  year,  that  kind  master  offered  him 
his  liberty  if  he  would  promise,  as  soon  as  he  could 
earn  the  money,  to  pay  him  one  hundred  dollars, 
which  would  be  a  profit  to  his  owner,  who  had  paid 
but  seventy  dollars  for  him.  This  offer,  of  course, 
Esquemeling  accepted  with  delight,  and  having 
made  the  bargain,  he  stepped  forth  upon  the  warm 
sands  of  the  island  of  Tortuga  a  free  and  happy 
man.  But  he  was  as  poor  as  a  church  mouse. 
He  had  nothing  in  the  world  but  the  clothes  on  his 
back,  and  he  saw  no  way  in  which  he  could  make 
money  enough  to  keep  himself  alive  until  he  had 


A  Pirate  Author  69 

paid  for  himself.  He  tried  various  ways  of  support, 
but  there  was  no  opening  for  a  young  business  man 
in  that  section  of  the  country,  and  at  last  he  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  there  was  only  one  way  by 
which  he  could  accomplish  his  object,  and  he  there- 
fore determined  to  enter  into  "  the  wicked  order  of 
pirates  or  robbers  at  sea." 

It  must  have  been  a  strange  thing  for  a  man 
accustomed  to  pens  and  ink,  to  yard-sticks  and 
scales,  to  feel  obliged  to  enroll  himself  into  a  com- 
pany of  bloody,  big-bearded  pirates,  but  a  man  must 
eat,  and  buccaneering  was  the  only  profession  open 
to  our  ex-clerk.  For  some  reason  or  other,  certainly 
not  on  account  of  his  bravery  and  daring,  Esquemel- 
ing  was  very  well  received  by  the  pirates  of  Tortuga. 
Perhaps  they  liked  him  because  he  was  a  mild- 
mannered  man  and  so  different  from  themselves. 
Nobody  was  afraid  of  him,  every  one  felt  superior  to 
him,  and  we  are  all  very  apt  to  like  people  to  whom 
we  feel  superior. 

As  for  Esquemeling  himself,  he  soon  came  to 
entertain  the  highest  opinion  of  his  pirate  compan- 
ions. He  looked  upon  the  buccaneers  who  had 
distinguished  themselves  as  great  heroes,  and  it 
must  have  been  extremely  gratifying  to  those  savage 
fellows  to  tell  Esquemeling  all  the  wonderful  things 
they  had  done.  In  the  whole  of  the  West  Indies 
there  was  no  one  who  was  in  the  habit  of  giving 


70       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

such  intelligent  attention  to  the  accounts  of  piratical 
depredations  and  savage  sea-fights,  as  was  Esquemel- 
ing,  and  if  he  had  demanded  a  salary  as  a  listener 
there  is  no  doubt  that  it  would  have  been  paid  to 
him. 

It  was  not  long  before  his  intense  admiration  of 
the  buccaneers  and  their  performances  began  to  pro- 
duce in  him  the  feeling  that  the  history  of  these 
great  exploits  should  not  be  lost  to  the  world,  and 
so  he  set  about  writing  the  lives  and  adventures 
of  many  of  the  buccaneers  with  whom  he  became 
acquainted. 

He  remained  with  the  pirates  for  several  years, 
and  during  that  time  worked  very  industriously  get- 
ting material  together  for  his  history.  When  he 
returned  to  his  own  country  in  1672,  having  done 
as  much  literary  work  as  was  possible  among  the 
uncivilized  surroundings  of  Tortuga,  he  there  com- 
pleted a  book,  which  he  called,  "  The  Buccaneers  of 
America,  or  The  True  Account  of  the  Most  Re- 
markable Assaults  Committed  of  Late  Years  Upon 
the  Coasts  of  the  West  Indies  by  the  Buccaneers, 
etc.,  by  John  Esquemeling,  One  of  the  Buccaneers, 
Who  Was  Present  at  Those  Tragedies." 

From  this  title  it  is  probable  that  our  literary 
pirate  accompanied  his  comrades  on  their  various 
voyages  and  assaults,  in  the  capacity  of  reporter, 
and  although  he  states  he  was  present  at  many  of 


A  Pirate  Author  71 

"those  tragedies,"  he  makes  no  reference  to  any 
deeds  of  valor  or  cruelty  performed  by  himself, 
which  shows  him  to  have  been  a  wonderfully  con- 
scientious historian.  There  are  persons,  however, 
who  doubt  his  impartiality,  because,  as  he  liked  the 
French,  he  always  gave  the  pirates  of  that  nationality 
the  credit  for  most  of  the  bravery  displayed  on  their 
expeditions,  and  all  of  the  magnanimity  and  cour- 
tesy, if  there  happened  to  be  any,  while  the  surli- 
ness, brutality,  and  extraordinary  wickednesses  were 
all  ascribed  to  the  English.  But  be  this  as  it  may, 
Esquemeling*s  history  was  a  great  success.  It  was 
written  in  Dutch  and  was  afterwards  translated  into 
English,  French,  and  Spanish.  It  contained  a  great 
deal  of  information  regarding  buccaneering  in  gen- 
eral, and  most  of  the  stories  of  pirates  which  we 
have  already  told,  and  many  of  the  surprising  narra- 
tions which  are  to  come,  have  been  taken  from  the 
book  of  this  buccaneer  historian. 


Chapter  X 
The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Brazilian 

HAVING  given  the  history  of  a  very  plain 
and  quiet  buccaneer,  who  was  a  reporter 
and  writer,  and  who,  if  he  were  now  liv- 
ing, would  be  eligible  as  a  member  of  an  Authors* 
Club,  we  will  pass  to  the  consideration  of  a  regular 
out-and-out  pirate,  one  from  whose  mast-head  would 
have  floated  the  black  flag  with  its  skull  and  cross- 
bones  if  that  emblematic  piece  of  bunting  had  been 
in  use  by  the  pirates  of  the  period. 

This  famous  buccaneer  was  called  Roc,  because 
he  had  to  have  a  name,  and  his  own  was  unknown, 
and  "  the  Brazilian,"  because  he  was  born  in  Bra- 
zil, though  of  Dutch  parents.  Unlike  most  of 
his  fellow-practitioners  he  did  not  gradually  become 
a  pirate.  From  his  early  youth  he  never  had  an 
intention  of  being  anything  else.  As  soon  as  he 
grew  to  be  a  man  he  became  a  bloody  buccaneer, 
and  at  the  first  opportunity  he  joined  a  pirate  crew, 
and  had  made  but  a  few  voyages  when  it  was  per- 
ceived by  his  companions  that  he  was  destined  to 

72 


The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Brazilian  73 

become  a  most  remarkable  sea-robber.  He  was 
offered  the  command  of  a  ship  with  a  well-armed 
crew  of  marine  savages,  and  in  a  very  short  time 
after  he  had  set  out  on  his  first  independent  cruise 
he  fell  in  with  a  Spanish  ship  loaded  with  silver 
bullion ;  having  captured  this,  he  sailed  with  his 
prize  to  Jamaica,  which  was  one  of  the  great  resorts 
of  the  English  buccaneers.  There  his  success 
delighted  the  community,  his  talents  for  the  con- 
duct of  great  piratical  operations  soon  became  appar- 
ent, and  he  was  generally  acknowledged  as  the  Head 
Pirate  of  the  West  Indies. 

He  was  now  looked  upon  as  a  hero  even  by  those 
colonists  who  had  no  sympathy  with  pirates,  and  as 
for  Esquemeling,  he  simply  worshipped  the  great 
Brazilian  desperado.  If  he  had  been  writing  the 
life  and  times  of  Alexander  the  Great,  Julius  Caesar, 
or  Mr.  Gladstone,  he  could  not  have  been  more 
enthusiastic  in  his  praises.  And  as  in  The  Arabian 
Nights  the  roc  is  described  as  the  greatest  of  birds, 
so,  in  the  eyes  of  the  buccaneer  biographer,  this 
Roc  was  the  greatest  of  pirates.  But  it  was  not 
only  in  the  mind  of  the  historian  that  Roc  now 
became  famous ;  the  better  he  became  known,  the 
more  general  was  the  fear  and  respect  felt  for  him, 
and  we  are  told  that  the  mothers  of  the  islands  used 
to  put  their  children  to  sleep  by  threatening  them 
with  the  terrible  Roc  if  they  did  not  close  their  eyes. 


74       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

This  story,  however,  I  regard  with  a  great  deal  of 
doubt ;  it  has  been  told  of  Saladin  and  many  other 
wicked  and  famous  men,  but  I  do  not  believe  it  is 
an  easy  thing  to  frighten  a  child  into  going  to  sleep. 
If  I  found  it  necessary  to  make  a  youngster  take  a 
nap,  I  should  say  nothing  of  the  condition  of  affairs 
in  Cuba  or  of  the  persecutions  of  the  Armenians. 

This  renowned  pirate  from  Brazil  must  have 
been  a  terrible  fellow  to  look  at.  He  was  strong 
and  brawny,  his  face  was  short  and  very  wide,  with 
high  cheek-bones,  and  his  expression  probably  re- 
sembled that  of  a  pug  dog.  His  eyebrows  were 
enormously  large  and  bushy,  and  from  under  them 
he  glared  at  his  mundane  surroundings.  He  was 
not  a  man  whose  spirit  could  be  quelled  by  looking 
him  steadfastly  in  the  eye.  It  was  his  custom  in 
the  daytime  to  walk  about,  carrying  a  drawn  cut- 
lass, resting  easily  upon  his  arm,  edge  up,  very 
much  as  a  fine  gentleman  carries  his  high  silk  hat, 
and  any  one  who  should  impertinently  stare  or  en- 
deavor to  quell  his  high  spirits  in  any  other  way, 
would  probably  have  felt  the  edge  of  that  cutlass 
descending  rapidly  through  his  physical   organism. 

He  was  a  man  who  insisted  upon  being  obeyed, 
and  if  any  one  of  his  crew  behaved  improperly,  or 
was  even  found  idle,  this  strict  and  inexorable  mas- 
ter would  cut  him  down  where  he  stood.  But 
although  he  was  so  strict  and  exacting  during  the 


The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Brazilian  75 

business  sessions  of  his  piratical  year,  by  which  I 
mean  when  he  was  cruising  around  after  prizes,  he 
was  very  much  more  disagreeable  when  he  was  taking 
a  vacation.  On  his  return  to  Jamaica  after  one  of  his 
expeditions  it  was  his  habit  to  give  himself  some 
relaxation  after  the  hardships  and  dangers  through 
which  he  had  passed,  and  on  such  occasions  it  was 
a  great  comfort  to  Roc  to  get  himself  thoroughly 
drunk.  With  his  cutlass  waving  high  in  the  air,  he 
would  rush  out  into  the  street  and  take  a  whack  at 
every  one  whom  he  met.  As  far  as  was  possible  the 
citizens  allowed  him  to  have  the  street  to  himself, 
and  it  was  not  at  all  likely  that  his  visits  to  Jamaica 
were  looked  forward  to  with  any  eager  anticipations. 
Roc,  it  may  be  said,  was  not  only  a  bloody  pirate, 
but  a  blooded  one ;  he  was  thoroughbred.  From 
the  time  he  had  been  able  to  assert  his  individuality 
he  had  been  a  pirate,  and  there  was  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  he  would  ever  reform  himself  into  any- 
thing else.  There  were  no  extenuating  circum- 
stances in  his  case ;  in  his  nature  there  was  no  alloy, 
nor  moderation,  nor  forbearance.  The  appreciative 
Esquemeling,  who  might  be  called  the  Boswell  of 
the  buccaneers,  could  never  have  met  his  hero 
Roc,  when  that  bushy-bearded  pirate  was  running 
"amuck"  in  the  streets,  but  if  he  had,  it  is  not 
probable  that  his  book  would  have  been  written. 
He  assures  us  that  when  Roc  was  not  drunk  he  was 


76       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

esteemed,  but  at  the  same  time  feared  ;  but  there 
are  various  ways  of  gaining  esteem,  and  Roc*s 
method  certainly  succeeded  very  well  in  the  case 
of  his  literary  associate. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  hatred  of  the  Spaniards  by 
the  buccaneers  began  very  early  in  the  settlement 
of  the  West  Indies,  and  in  fact,  it  is  very  likely  that 
if  there  had  been  no  Spaniards  there  would  never 
have  been  any  buccaneers ;  but  in  all  the  instances 
of  ferocious  enmity  toward  the  Spaniards  there  has 
been  nothing  to  equal  the  feelings  of  Roc,  the  Bra- 
zilian, upon  that  subject.  His  dislike  to  everything 
Spanish  arose,  he  declared,  from  cruelties  which  had 
been  practised  upon  his  parents  by  people  of  that 
nation,  and  his  main  principle  of  action  throughout 
all  his  piratical  career  seems  to  have  been  that  there 
was  nothing  too  bad  for  a  Spaniard.  The  object  of 
his  life  was  to  wage  bitter  war  against  Spanish  ships 
and  Spanish  settlements.  He  seldom  gave  any  quar- 
ter to  his  prisoners,  and  would  often  subject  them  to 
horrible  tortures  in  order  to  make  them  tell  where 
he  could  find  the  things  he  wanted.  There  is  noth- 
ing horrible  that  has  ever  been  written  or  told  about 
the  buccaneer  life,  which  could  not  have  been  told 
about  Roc,  the  Brazilian.     He  was  a  typical  pirate. 

Roc  was  very  successful  in  his  enterprises,  and 
took  a  great  deal  of  valuable  merchandise  to  Jamaica, 
but  although  he  and  his  crew  were  always  rich  men 


"In  a  small  boat  filled  with  some  of  his  trusty  men,  he  rowed 
quietly  into  the  port.'* — p.  'jj. 


The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Brazilian  77 

when  they  went  on  shore,  they  did  not  remain  in 
that  condition  very  long.  The  buccaneers  of  that 
day  were  all  very  extravagant,  and,  moreover,  they 
were  great  gamblers,  and  it  was  not  uncommon  for 
them  to  lose  everything  they  possessed  before  they 
had  been  on  shore  a  week.  Then  there  was  noth- 
ing for  them  to  do  but  to  go  on  board  their  vessels 
and  put  out  to  sea  in  search  of  some  fresh  prize. 
So  far  Roc*s  career  had  been  very  much  like  that 
of  many  other  Companions  of  the  Coast,  differing 
from  them  only  in  respect  to  intensity^ and  force, 
but  he  was  a  clever  man  with  ideas,  and  was  able  to 
adapt  himself  to  circumstances. 

He  was  cruising  about  Campeachy  without  seeing 
any  craft  that  was  worth  capturing,  when  he  thought 
that  it  would  be  very  well  for  him  to  go  out  on  a 
sort  of  marine  scouting  expedition  and  find  out 
whether  or  not  there  were  any  Spanish  vessels  in 
the  bay  which  were  well  laden  and  which  were  likely 
soon  to  come  out.  So,  with  a  small  boat  filled  with 
some  of  his  trusty  men,  he  rowed  quietly  into  the 
port  to  see  what  he  could  discover.  If  he  had  had 
Esquemeling  with  him,  and  had  sent  that  mild- 
mannered  observer  into  the  harbor  to  investigate 
into  the  state  of  affairs,  and  come  back  with  a  re- 
port, it  would  have  been  a  great  deal  better  for  the 
pirate  captain,  but  he  chose  to  go  himself,  and  he 
came  to  grief.     No  sooner  did  the  people  on  the 


78       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

ships  lying  in  the  harbor  behold  a  boat  approaching 
with  a  big-browed,  broad-jawed  mariner  sitting  in 
the  stern,  and  with  a  good  many  more  broad-backed, 
hairy  mariners  than  were  necessary,  pulling  at  the 
oars,  than  they  gave  the  alarm.  The  well-known 
pirate  was  recognized,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
was  captured.  Roc  must  have  had  a  great  deal  of 
confidence  in  his  own  powers,  or  perhaps  he  relied 
somewhat  upon  the  fear  which  his  very  presence 
evoked.  But  he  made  a  mistake  this  time ;  he  had 
run  into  the  lion*s  jaw,  and  the  lion  had  closed  his 
teeth  upon  him. 

When  the  pirate  captain  and  his  companions 
were  brought  before  the  Governor,  he  made  no 
pretence  of  putting  them  to  trial.  Buccaneers  were 
outlawed  by  the  Spanish,  and  were  considered  as 
wild  beasts  to  be  killed  without  mercy  wherever 
caught.  Consequently  Roc  and  his  men  were 
thrown  into  a  dungeon  and  condemned  to  be  exe- 
cuted. If,  however,  the  Spanish  Governor  had 
known  what  was  good  for  himself,  he  would  have 
had  them  killed  that  night. 

During  the  time  that  preparations  were  going  on 
for  making  examples  of  these  impertinent  pirates, 
who  had  dared  to  enter  the  port  of  Campeachy, 
Roc  was  racking  his  brains  to  find  some  method 
of  getting  out  of  the  terrible  scrape  into  which  he 
had  fallen.     This  was  a  branch  of  the  business  in 


The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Brazilian  79 

which  a  capable  pirate  was  obliged  to  be  proficient ; 
if  he  could  not  get  himself  out  of  scrapes,  he  could 
not  expect  to  be  successful.  In  this  case  there  was 
no  chance  of  cutting  down  sentinels,  or  jumping 
overboard  with  a  couple  of  wine-jars  for  a  life-pre- 
server, or  of  doing  any  of  those  ordinary  things 
which  pirates  were  in  the  habit  of  doing  when  escap- 
ing from  their  captors.  Roc  and  his  men  were  in 
a  dungeon  on  land,  inside  of  a  fortress,  and  if  they 
escaped  from  this,  they  would  find  themselves  un- 
armed in  the  midst  of  a  body  of  Spanish  soldiers. 
Their  stout  arms  and  their  stout  hearts  were  of  no 
use  to  them  now,  and  they  were  obliged  to  depend 
upon  their  wits  if  they  had  any.  Roc  had  plenty  of 
wit,  and  he  used  it  well.  There  was  a  slave,  prob- 
ably not  a  negro  nor  a  native,  but  most  likely  some 
European  who  had  been  made  prisoner,  who  came 
in  to  bring  him  food  and  drink,  and  by  the  means 
of  this  man  the  pirate  hoped  to  play  a  trick  upon 
the  Governor.  He  promised  the  slave  that  if  he 
would  help  him, — and  he  told  him  it  would  be  very 
easy  to  do  so,  —  he  would  give  him  money  enough 
to  buy  his  freedom  and  to  return  to  his  friends,  and 
this,  of  course,  was  a  great  inducement  to  the  poor 
fellow,  who  may  have  been  an  Englishman  or  a 
Frenchman  in  good  circumstances  at  home.  The 
slave  agreed  to  the  proposals,  and  the  first  thing  he 
did  was  to  bring  some  writing-materials  to  Roc,  who 


8o       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

thereupon  began  the  composition  of  a  letter  upon 
which  he  based  all  his  hopes  of  life  and  freedom. 

When  he  was  coming  into  the  bay,  Roc  had  no-. 
ticed  a  large  French  vessel  that  was  lying  at  some  dis- 
tance from  the  town,  and  he  wrote  his  letter  as  if  it 
had  come  from  the  captain  of  this  ship.  In  the  char- 
acter of  this  French  captain  he  addressed  his  letter  to 
the  Governor  of  the  town,  and  in  it  he  stated  that  he 
had  understood  that  certain  Companions  of  the  Coast, 
for  whom  he  had  great  sympathy, —  for  the  French 
and  the  buccaneers  were  always  good  friends,  — 
had  been  captured  by  the  Governor,  who,  he  heard, 
had  threatened  to  execute  them.  Then  the  French 
captain,  by  the  hand  of  Roc,  went  on  to  say  that  if 
any  harm  should  come  to  these  brave  men,  who 
had  been  taken  and  imprisoned  when  they  were 
doing  no  harm  to  anybody,  he  would  swear,  in  his 
most  solemn  manner,  that  never,  for  the  rest  of  his 
life,  would  he  give  quarter  to  any  Spaniard  who 
might  fall  into  his  hands,  and  he,  moreover,  threat- 
ened that  any  kind  of  vengeance  which  should 
become  possible  for  the  buccaneers  and  French 
united,  to  inflict  upon  the  Spanish  ships,  or  upon 
the  town  of  Campeachy,  should  be  taken  as  soon 
as  possible  after  he  should  hear  of  any  injury  that 
might  be  inflicted  upon  the  unfortunate  men  who 
were  then  lying  imprisoned  in  the  fortress. 

When  the  slave  came  back  to  Roc,  the  letter  was 


**  When  the  slave  came  back  to  Roc,  the  letter  was  given  to  him 
with  very  particular  directions." — p.  80. 


The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Brazilian  8 1 

given  to  him  with  very  particular  directions  as  to 
what  he  was  to  do  with  it.  He  was  to  disguise 
himself  as  much  as  possible,  so  that  he  should  not 
be  recognized  by  the  people  of  the  place,  and  then 
in  the  night  he  was  to  make  his  way  out  of  the 
town,  and  early  in  the  morning  he  was  to  return  as 
if  he  had  been  walking  along  the  shore  of  the  har- 
bor, when  he  was  to  state  that  he  had  been  put  on 
shore  from  the  French  vessel  in  the  offing,  with  a 
letter  which  he  was  to  present  to  the  Governor. 

The  slave  performed  his  part  of  the  business  very 
well.  The  next  day,  wet  and  bedraggled,  from 
making  his  way  through  the  weeds  and  mud  of  the 
coast,  he  presented  himself  at  the  fortress  with  his 
letter,  and  when  he  was  allowed  to  take  it  to  the 
Governor,  no  one  suspected  that  he  was  a  person 
employed  about  the  place.  Having  fulfilled  his  mis- 
sion, he  departed,  and  when  seen  again  he  was  the 
same  servant  whose  business  it  was  to  carry  food  to 
the  prisoners. 

The  Governor  read  the  letter  with  a  disquieted 
mind;  he  knew  that  the  French  ship  which  was 
lying  outside  the  harbor  was  a  powerful  vessel  and 
he  did  not  like  French  ships,  anyway.  The  town 
had  once  been  taken  and  very  badly  treated  by  a 
little  fleet  of  French  and  English  buccaneers,  and  he 
was  very  anxious  that  nothing  of  the  kind  should 
happen  again.     There  was  no  great  Spanish  force  in 


82       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

the  harbor  at  that  time,  and  he  did  not  know  ho^ 
many  buccaneering  vessels  might  be  able  to  gather 
together  in  the  bay  if  it  should  become  known  that 
the  great  pirate  Roc  had  been  put  to  death  in  Cam- 
peachy.  It  was  an  unusual  thing  for  a  prisoner  to 
have  such  powerful  friends  so  near  by,  and  the  Gov- 
ernor took  Roc's  case  into  most  earnest  consid- 
eration. A  few  hours'  reflection  was  sufficient  to 
convince  him  that  it  would  be  very  unsafe  to  tamper 
with  such  a  dangerous  prize  as  the  pirate  Roc,  and 
he  determined  to  get  rid  of  him  as  soon  as  possible. 
He  felt  himself  in  the  position  of  a  man  who  has 
stolen  a  baby-bear,  and  who  hears  the  roar  of  an 
approaching  parent  through  the  woods ;  to  throw 
away  the  cub  and  walk  off  as  though  he  had  no  idea 
there  were  any  bears  in  that  forest  would  be  the 
inclination  of  a  man  so  situated,  and  to  get  rid  of 
the  great  pirate  without  provoking  the  vengeance 
of  his  friends  was  the  natural  inclination  of  the 
Governor. 

Now  Roc  and  his  men  were  treated  well,  and 
having  been  brought  before  the  Governor,  were  told 
that  in  consequence  of  their  having  committed  no 
overt  act  of  disorder  they  would  be  set  at  liberty 
and  shipped  to  England,  upon  the  single  condition 
that  they  would  abandon  piracy  and  agree  to  be- 
come quiet  citizens  in  whatever  respectable  vocation 
they  might  select. 


The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Brazilian  83 

To  these  terms  Roc  and  his  men  agreed  without 
argument.  They  declared  that  they  would  retire 
from  the  buccaneering  business,  and  that  nothing 
would  suit  them  better  than  to  return  to  the  ways 
of  civilization  and  virtue.  There  was  a  ship  about 
to  depart  for  Spain,  and  on  this  the  Governor  gave 
Roc  and  his  men  free  passage  to  the  other  side  of 
the  ocean.  There  is  no  doubt  that  our  buccaneers 
would  have  much  preferred  to  have  been  put  on  board 
the  French  vessel;  but  as  the  Spanish  Governor 
had  started  his  prisoners  on  the  road  to  reform, 
he  did  not  wish  to  throw  them  into  the  way  of 
temptation  by  allowing  them  to  associate  with  such 
wicked  companions  as  Frenchmen,  and  Roc  made 
no  suggestion  of  the  kind,  knowing  very  well  how 
greatly  astonished  the  French  captain  would  be  if 
the  Governor  were  to  communicate  with  him  on 
the  subject. 

On  the  voyage  to  Spain  Roc  was  on  his  good 
behavior,  and  he  was  a  man  who  knew  how  to 
behave  very  well  when  it  was  absolutely  necessary: 
no  doubt  there  must  have  been  many  dull  days  on 
board  ship  when  he  would  have  been  delighted  to 
gamble,  to  get  drunk,  and  to  run  "amuck"  up  and 
down  the  deck.  But  he  carefully  abstained  from  all 
these  recreations,  and  showed  himself  to  be  such 
an  able-bodied  and  willing  sailor  that  the  captain 
allowed  him  to  serve  as  one  of  the  crew.     Roc  knew 


84       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

how  to  do  a  great  many  things ;  not  only  could  he 
murder  and  rob,  but  he  knew  how  to  turn  an  honest 
penny  when  there  was  no  other  way  of  filling  his 
purse.  He  had  learned  among  the  Indians  how  to 
shoot  fish  with  bow  and  arrows,  and  on  this  voyage 
across  the  Atlantic  he  occupied  all  his  spare  time  in 
sitting  in  the  rigging  and  shooting  the  fish  which 
disported  themselves  about  the  vessel.  These  fish 
he  sold  to  the  officers,  and  we  are  told  that  in  this 
way  he  earned  no  less  than  five  hundred  crowns, 
perhaps  that  many  dollars.  If  this  account  is  true, 
fish  must  have  been  very  costly  in  those  days,  but 
it  showed  plainly  that  if  Roc  had  desired  to  get 
into  an  honest  business,  he  would  have  found  fish- 
shooting  a  profitable  occupation.  In  every  way  Roc 
behaved  so  well  that  for  his  sake  all  his  men  were 
treated  kindly  and  allowed  many  privileges. 

But  when  this  party  of  reformed  pirates  reached 
Spain  and  were  allowed  to  go  where  they  pleased, 
they  thought  no  more  of  the  oaths  they  had  taken 
to  abandon  piracy  than  they  thought  of  the  oaths 
which  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  throwing  right 
and  left  when  they  had  been  strolling  about  on  the 
island  of  Jamaica.  They  had  no  ship,  and  not 
enough  money  to  buy  one,  but  as  soon  as  they  could 
manage  it  they  sailed  back  to  the  West  Indies,  and 
eventually  found  themselves  in  Jamaica,  as  bold  and 
as  bloody  buccaneers  as  ever  they  had  been. 


The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Brazilian  85 

Not  only  did  Roc  cast  from  him  every  thought  of 
reformation  and  a  respectable  life,  but  he  determined 
to  begin  the  business  of  piracy  on  a  grander  scale 
than  ever  before.  He  made  a  compact  with  an  old 
French  buccaneer,  named  Tributor,  and  with  a  large 
company  of  buccaneers  he  actually  set  out  to  take  a 
town.  Having  lost  everything  he  possessed,  and 
having  passed  such  a  long  time  without  any  employ- 
ment more  profitable  than  that  of  shooting  fish  with 
a  bow  and  arrows,  our  doughty  pirate  now  desired 
to  make  a  grand  strike,  and  if  he  could  take  a  town 
and  pillage  it  of  everything  valuable  it  contained, 
he  would  make  a  very  good  fortune  in  a  very  short 
time,  and  might  retire,  if  he  chose,  from  the  active 
practice  of  his  profession. 

The  town  which  Roc  and  Tributor  determined 
to  attack  was  Merida,  in  Yucatan,  and  although 
this  was  a  bold  and  rash  undertaking,  the  two 
pirates  were  bold  and  rash  enough  for  anything. 
Roc  had  been  a  prisoner  in  Merida,  and  on  account 
of  his  knowledge  of  the  town  he  believed  that  he 
and  his  followers  could  land  upon  the  coast,  and 
then  quietly  advance  upon  the  town  without  their 
approach  being  discovered.  If  they  could  do  this, 
it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  rush  upon  the  unsus- 
pecting garrison,  and,  having  annihilated  these,  make 
themselves  masters  of  the  town. 

But   their  plans  did  not  work  very  well;   they 


86       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

were  discovered  by  some  Indians,  after  they  had 
landed,  who  hurried  to  Merida  and  gave  notice  of 
the  approach  of  the  buccaneers.  Consequently, 
when  Roc  and  his  companions  reached  the  town 
they  found  the  garrison  prepared  for  them,  cannons 
loaded,  and  all  the  approaches  guarded.  Still  the 
pirates  did  not  hesitate ;  they  advanced  fiercely  to 
the  attack  just  as  they  were  accustomed  to  do  when 
they  were  boarding  a  Spanish  vessel,  but  they  soon 
found  that  fighting  on  land  was  very  diflferent  from 
fighting  at  sea.  In  a  marine  combat  it  is  seldom 
that  a  party  of  boarders  is  attacked  in  the  rear  by  the 
enemy,  although  on  land  such  methods  of  warfare 
may  always  be  expected ;  but  Roc  and  Tributor 
did  not  expect  anything  of  the  kind,  and  they  were, 
therefore,  greatly  dismayed  when  a  party  of  horse- 
men from  the  town,  who  had  made  a  wide  detour 
through  the  woods,  suddenly  charged  upon  their 
rear.  Between  the  guns  of  the  garrison  and  the 
sabres  of  the  horsemen  the  buccaneers  had  a  very 
hard  time,  and  it  was  not  long  before  they  were 
completely  defeated.  Tributor  and  a  great  many 
of  the  pirates  were  killed  or  taken,  and  Roc,  the 
Brazilian,  had  a  terrible  fall. 

This  most  memorable  fall  occurred  in  the  estima- 
tion of  John  Esquemeling,  who  knew  all  about  the 
attack  on  Merida,  and  who  wrote  the  account  of  it. 
But  he  had  never  expected  to  be  cdled  upon  to 


The  Story  of  Roc,  the  Braziiian  87 

record  that  his  great  hero.  Roc,  the  Brazilian,  saved 
his  life,  after  the  utter  defeat  of  himself  and  his 
companions,  by  ignominiously  running  away.  The 
loyal  chronicler  had  as  firm  a  belief  in  the  absolute 
inability  of  his  hero  to  fly  from  danger  as  was  shown 
by  the  Scottish  Douglas,  when  he  stood,  his  back 
against  a  mass  of  stone,  and  invited  his  enemies  to 
"  Come  one,  come  all."  The  bushy-browed  pirate 
of  the  drawn  cutlass  had  so  often  expressed  his  con- 
tempt for  a  soldier  who  would  even  surrender,  to 
say  nothing  of  running  away,  that  Esquemeling 
could  scarcely  believe  that  Roc  had  retreated  from 
his  enemies,  deserted  his  friends,  and  turned  his 
back  upon  the  principles  which  he  had  always  so 
truculently  proclaimed. 

But  this  downfall  of  a  hero  simply  shows  that 
Esquemeling,  although  he  was  a  member  of  the 
piratical  body,  and  was  proud  to  consider  himself 
a  buccaneer,  did  not  understand  the  true  nature  of 
a  pirate.  Under  the  brutality,  the  cruelty,  the  dis- 
honesty, and  the  recklessness  of  the  sea-robbers 
of  those  days,  there  was  nearly  always  meanness  and 
cowardice.  Roc,  as  we  have  said  in  the  beginning 
of  this  sketch,  was  a  typical  pirate;  under  certain 
circumstances  he  showed  himself  to  have  all  those 
brave  and  savage  qualities  which  Esquemeling  es- 
teemed and  revered,  and  under  other  circumstances 
he  showed  those  other  qualities  which  Esquemeling 


88       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

despised,  but  which  are  necessary  to  make  up  the 
true  character  of  a  pirate. 

The  historian  John  seems  to  have  been  very 
much  cut  up  by  the  manner  in  which  his  favorite 
hero  had  rounded  off  his  piratical  career,  and  after 
that  he  entirely  dropped  Roc  from  his  chronicles. 

This  out-and-out  pirate  was  afterwards  living  in 
Jamaica,  and  probably  engaged  in  new  enterprises, 
but  Esquemeling  would  have  nothing  more  to  do 
with  him  nor  with  the  history  of  his  deeds. 


Chapter  XI 
A  Buccaneer  Boom 

THE  condition  of  affairs  in  the  West  Indies 
was  becoming  very  serious  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Spanish  rulers.  They  had  discovered 
a  new  country,  they  had  taken  possession  of  it,  and 
they  had  found  great  wealth  of  various  kinds,  of 
which  they  were  very  much  in  need.  This  wealth 
was  being  carried  to  Spain  as  fast  as  it  could  be 
taken  from  the  unfortunate  natives  and  .gathered 
together  for  transportation,  and  everything  would 
have  gone  on  very  well  indeed  had  it  not  been  for 
the  most  culpable  and  unwarranted  interference  of 
that  lawless  party  of  men,  who  might  almost  be  said 
to  amount  to  a  nationality,  who  were  continually 
on  the  alert  to  take  from  Spain  everything  she 
could  take  from  America.  The  English,  French, 
and  Dutch  governments  were  generally  at  peace 
with  Spain,  but  they  sat  by  quietly  and  saw  their 
sailor  subjects  band  themselves  together  and  make 
war  upon  Spanish  commerce,  —  a  very  one-sided 
commerce,  it  is  true. 

89 


90       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

It  was  of  no  use  for  Spain  to  complain  of  the 
buccaneers  to  her  sister  maritime  nations.  It  is  not 
certain  that  they  could  have  done  anything  to  inter- 
fere with  the  operations  of  the  sea-robbers  who 
originally  sailed  from  their  coasts,  but  it  is  certain 
they  did  not  try  to  do  anything.  Whatever  was 
to  be  done,  Spain  must  do  herself.  The  pirates 
were  as  slippery  as  they  were  savage,  and  although 
the  Spaniards  made  a  regular  naval  war  upon  them, 
they  seemed  to  increase  rather  than  to  diminish. 
Every  time  that  a  Spanish  merchantman  was  taken, 
and  its  gold  and  silver  and  valuable  goods  carried 
off  to  Tortuga  or  Jamaica,  and  divided  among  a  lot 
of  savage  and  rollicking  fellows,  the  greater  became 
the  enthusiasm  among  the  Brethren  of  the  Coast, 
and  the  wider  spread  the  buccaneering  boom.  More 
ships  laden  almost  entirely  with  stalwart  men,  well 
provided  with  arms,  and  very  badly  furnished  with 
principles,  came  from  England  and  France,  and  the 
Spanish  ships  of  war  in  the  West  Indies  found  that 
they  were  confronted  by  what  was,  in  many  respects, 
a  regular  naval  force. 

The  buccaneers  were  afraid  of  nothing ;  they  paid 
no  attention  to  the  rules  of  war, — a  little  ship  would 
attack  a  big  one  without  the  slightest  hesitation, 
and  more  than  that,  would  generally  take  it,  —  and 
in  every  way  Spain  was  beginning  to  feel  as  if  she 
were  acting  the  part  of  provider  to  the  pirate  sea- 
men of  every  nation. 


A  Buccaneer  Boom  91 

Finding  that  she  could  do  nothing  to  diminish 
the  number  of  the  buccaneering  vessels,  Spain  deter- 
mined that  she  would  not  have  so  many  richly  laden 
ships  of  her  own  upon  these  dangerous  seas ;  con- 
sequently, a  change  was  made  in  regard  to  the  ship- 
ping of  merchandise  and  the  valuable  metals  from 
America  to  her  home  ports.  The  cargoes  were 
concentrated,  and  what  had  previously  been  placed 
upon  three  ships  was  crowded  into  the  holds  and 
between  the  decks  of  one  great  vessel,  which  was  so 
well  armed  and  defended  as  to  make  it  almost  im- 
possible for  any  pirate  ship  to  capture  it.  In  some 
respects  this  plan  worked  very  well,  although  when 
the  buccaneers  did  happen  to  pounce  upon  one  of 
these  richly  laden  vessels,  in  such  numbers  and  with 
such  swift  ferocity,  that  they  were  able  to  capture  it, 
they  rejoiced  over  a  prize  far  more  valuable  than 
anything  the  pirate  soul  had  ever  dreamed  of  before. 
But  it  was  not  often  that  one  of  these  great  ships 
was  taken,  and  for  a  time  the  results  of  Spanish 
robbery  and  cruelty  were  safely  carried  to  Spain. 

But  it  was  very  hard  to  get  the  better  of  the 
buccaneers ;  their  lives  and  their  fortunes  depended 
upon  this  boom,  and  if  in  one  way  they  could  not 
get  the  gold  out  of  the  Spaniards,  which  the  latter 
got  out  of  the  natives,  they  would  try  another. 
When  the  miners  in  the  gold  fields  find  they  can 
no  longer  wash  out  with  their  pans  a  paying  quan- 


92       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

tity  of  the  precious  metal,  they  go  to  work  on  the 
rocks  and  break  them  into  pieces  and  crush  them 
into  dust ;  so,  when  the  buccaneers  found  it  did  not 
pay  to  devote  themselves  to  capturing  Spanish  gold 
on  its  transit  across  the  ocean,  many  of  them  changed 
their  methods  of  operation  and  boldly  planned  to 
seize  the  treasures  of  their  enemy  before  it  was  put 
upon  the  ships. 

Consequently,  the  buccaneers  formed  themselves 
into  larger  bodies  commanded  by  noted  leaders,  and 
made  attacks  upon  the  Spanish  settlements  and 
towns.  Many  of  these  were  found  nearly  defence- 
less, and  even  those  which  boasted  fortifications 
often  fell  before  the  reckless  charges  of  the  bucca- 
neers. The  pillage,  the  burning,  and  the  cruelty  on 
shore  exceeded  that  which  had  hitherto  been  known 
on  the  sea.  There  is  generally  a  great  deal  more  in 
a  town  than  there  is  in  a  ship,  and  the  buccaneers 
proved  themselves  to  be  among  the  most  outra- 
geous, exacting,  and  cruel  conquerors  ever  known  in 
the  world.  They  were  governed  by  no  laws  of  war- 
fare ;  whatever  they  chose  to  do  they  did.  They 
respected  nobody,  not  even  themselves,  and  acted 
like  wild  beasts,  without  the  disposition  which  is 
generally  shown  by  a  wild  beast,  to  lie  down  and  go 
to  sleep  when  he  has  had  enough. 

There  were  times  when  it  seemed  as  though  it 
would  be  safer  for  a  man  who  had  a  regard  for  his 


A  Buccaneer  Boom  93 

life  and  comfort,  to  sail  upon  a  pirate  ship  instead 
of  a  Spanish  galleon,  or  to  take  up  his  residence  in 
one  of  the  uncivilized  communities  of  Tortuga  or 
Jamaica,  instead  of  settling  in  a  well-ordered  Span- 
ish-American town  with  its  mayor,  its  officials,  and 
its  garrison. 

It  was  a  very  strange  nation  of  marine  bandits 
which  had  thus  sprung  into  existence  on  these  far- 
away waters ;  it  was  a  nation  of  grown-up  men,  who 
existed  only  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  off  that 
which  other  people  were  taking  away ;  it  was  a  nation 
of  second-hand  robbers,  who  carried  their  operations 
to  such  an  extent  that  they  threatened  to  do  away 
entirely  with  that  series  of  primary  robberies  to 
which  Spain  had  devoted  herself  I  do  not  know 
that  there  were  any  companies  formed  in  those  days 
for  the  prosecution  of  buccaneering,  but  I  am  quite 
sure  that  if  there  had  been,  their  shares  would  have 
gone  up  to  a  very  high  figure. 


Chapter  XII 
The  Story  of  L'Olonnois  the  Cruel 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  seen  that  the 
buccaneers  had  at  last  become  so  numerous 
and  so  formidable  that  it  was  dangerous  for  a 
Spanish  ship  laden  with  treasure  from  the  new 
world  to  attempt  to  get  out  of  the  Caribbean  Sea 
into  the  Atlantic,  and  that  thus  failing  to  find 
enough  richly  laden  vessels  to  satisfy  their  ardent 
cravings  for  plunder,  the  buccaneers  were  forced  to 
make  some  change  in  their  methods  of  criminal 
warfare ;  and  from  capturing  Spanish  galleons,  they 
formed  themselves  into  well-organized  bodies  and 
attacked  towns. 

Among  the  buccaneer  leaders  who  distinguished 
themselves  as  land  pirates  was  a  thoroughbred  scoun- 
drel by  the  name  of  Francis  L'Olonnois,  who  was 
born  in  France.  In  those  days  it  was  the  custom 
to  enforce  servitude  upon  people  who  were  not  able 
to  take  care  of  themselves.  Unfortunate  debtors 
and  paupers  of  all  classes  were  sold  to  people  who 
had  need  of  their  services.     The  only  difference 

94 


The  Story  of  L*01onnois  the  Cruel        95 

sometimes  between  master  and  servant  dependec 
entirely  upon  the  fact  that  one  had  money,  and  the 
other  had  none.  Boys  and  girls  were  sold  for  a 
term  of  years,  somewhat  as  if  they  had  been  appren- 
tices, and  it  so  happened  that  the  boy  L'Olonnois 
was  sold  to  a  master  who  took  him  to  the  West 
Indies.  There  he  led  the  life  of  a  slave  until  he 
was  of  age,  and  then,  being  no  longer  subject  to 
ownership,  he  became  one  of  the  freest  and  most 
independent  persons  who  ever  walked  this  earth. 

He  began  his  career  on  the  island  of  Hispaniola, 
where  he  took  up  the  business  of  hunting  and 
butchering  cattle;  but  he  very  soon  gave  up  this 
life  for  that  of  a  pirate,  and  enlisted  as  a  common 
sailor  on  one  of  their  ships.  Here  he  gave  signs 
of  such  great  ability  as  a  brave  and  unscrupulous 
scoundrel  that  one  of  the  leading  pirates  on  the 
island  of  Tortuga  gave  him  a  ship  and  a  crew,  and 
set  him  up  in  business  on  his  own  account.  The 
piratical  career  of  L'Olonnois  was  very  much  like 
that  of  other  buccaneers  of  the  day,  except  that  he 
was  so  abominably  cruel  to  the  Spanish  prisoners 
whom  he  captured  that  he  gained  a  reputation  for 
vile  humanity,  surpassing  that  of  any  other  rascal 
on  the  western  continent.  When  he  captured  a 
prisoner,  it  seemed  to  delight  his  soul  as  much  to 
torture  and  mutilate  him  before  killing  him  as  to 
take  away  whatever  valuables  he  possessed.     His 


^6       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

reputation  for  ingenious  wickedness  spread  all  ovef 
the  West  Indies,  so  that  the  crews  of  Spanish  ships, 
attacked  by  this  demon,  would  rather  die  on  their 
decks  or  sink  to  the  bottom  in  their  ships  than  be 
captured  by  L'Olonnois. 

All  the  barbarities,  the  brutalities,  and  the  fiend- 
ish ferocity  which  have  ever  been  attributed  to  the 
pirates  of  the  world  were  united  in  the  character  of 
this  inhuman  wretch,  who  does  not  appear  to  be  so 
good  an  example  of  the  true  pirate  as  Roc,  the 
Brazilian.  He  was  not  so  brave,  he  was  not  so 
able,  and  he  was  so  utterly  base  that  it  would  be 
impossible  for  any  one  to  look  upon  him  as  a  hero. 
After  having  attained  in  a  very  short  time  the  repu- 
tation of  being  the  most  bloody  and  wicked  pirate 
of  his  day,  UOlonnois  was  unfortunate  enough  to 
be  wrecked  upon  the  coast,  not  far  from  the  town 
of  Campeachy.  He  and  his  crew  got  safely  to 
shore,  but  it  was  not  long  before  their  presence 
was  discovered  by  the  people  of  the  town,  and  the 
Spanish  soldiers  thereupon  sallied  out  and  attacked 
them.  There  was  a  fierce  fight,  but  the  Spaniards 
were  the  stronger,  and  the  buccaneers  were  utterly 
defeated.  Many  of  them  were  killed,  and  most  of 
the  rest  wounded  or  taken  prisoners. 

Among  the  wounded  was  L'Olonnois,  and  as  he 
knew  that  if  he  should  be  discovered  he  would 
meet  with  no  mercy,  he  got  behind  some  bushes, 


The  Story  of  L'OIonnois  the  Cruel         97 

scooped  up  several  handfuls  of  sand,  mixed  it  with 
his  blood,  and  with  it  rubbed  his  face  so  that  it  pre- 
sented the  pallor  of  a  corpse.  Then  he  lay  down 
among  the  bodies  of  his  dead  companions,  and 
when  the  Spaniards  afterwards  walked  over  the 
battlefield,  he  was  looked  upon  as  one  of  the 
common  pirates  whom  they  had  killed. 

When  the  soldiers  had  retired  into  the  town  with 
their  prisoners,  the  make-believe  corpse  stealthily 
arose  and  made  his  way  into  the  woods,  where  he 
stayed  until  his  wounds  were  well  enough  for  him  to 
walk  about.  He  divested  himself  of  his  great  boots, 
his  pistol  belt,  and  the  rest  of  his  piratical  costume, 
and,  adding  to  his  scanty  raiment  a  cloak  and  hat 
which  he  had  stolen  from  a  poor  cottage,  he  boldly 
approached  the  town  and  entered  it.  He  looked 
like  a  very  ordinary  person,  and  no  notice  was  taken 
of  him  by  the  authorities.  Here  he  found  shelter 
and  something  to  eat,  and  he  soon  began  to  make 
himself  very  much  at  home  in  the  streets  of 
Campeachy. 

It  was  a  very  gay  time  in  the  town,  and,  as 
everybody  seemed  to  be  happy,  L'OIonnois  was 
very  glad  to  join  in  the  general  rejoicing,  and  these 
hilarities  gave  him  particular  pleasure  as  he  found 
out  that  he  was  the  cause  of  them.  The  bucca- 
neers who  had  been  captured,  and  who  were  impris- 
oned in  the  fortress,  had  been  interrogated  over  and 


98       Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

over  again  by  the  Spanish  officials  in  regard  to 
L'Olonnois,  their  commander,  and,  as  they  had 
invariably  answered  that  he  had  been  killed,  the 
Spanish  were  forced  to  believe  the  glad  tidings,  and 
they  celebrated  the  death  of  the  monster  as  the 
greatest  piece  of  public  good  fortune  which  could 
come  to  their  community.  They  built  bonfires, 
they  sang  songs  about  the  death  of  the  black-hearted 
buccaneer,  and  services  of  thanksgiving  were  held  in 
their  churches. 

All  this  was  a  great  delight  to  L*01onnois,  who 
joined  hands  with  the  young  men  and  women,  as 
they  danced  around  the  bonfires ;  he  assisted  in  a 
fine  bass  voice  in  the  choruses  which  told  of  his 
death  and  his  dreadful  doom,  and  he  went  to  church 
and  listened  to  the  priests  and  the  people  as  they  gave 
thanks  for  their  deliverance  from  his  enormities. 

But  L'Olonnois  did  not  waste  all  his  time 
chuckling  over  the  baseless  rejoicings  of  the  people 
of  the  town.  He  made  himself  acquainted  with 
some  of  the  white  slaves,  men  who  had  been  brought 
from  England,  and  finding  some  of  them  very 
much  discontented  with  their  lot,  he  ventured  to 
tell  them  that  he  was  one  of  the  pirates  who  had 
escaped,  and  offered  them  riches  and  liberty  if  they 
would  join  him  in  a  scheme  he  had  concocted.  It 
would  have  been  easy  enough  for  him  to  get  away 
from  the  town  by  himself,  but  this  would  have  been 


The  Story  of  L'Olonnois  the  Cruel        99 

of  no  use  to  him  unless  he  obtained  some  sort  of  a 
vessel,  and  some  men  to  help  him  navigate  it.  So 
he  proposed  to  the  slaves  that  they  should  steal  a 
small  boat  belonging  to  the  master  of  one  of  them, 
and  in  this,  under  cover  of  the  night,  the  little 
party  safely  left  Campeachy  and  set  sail  for  Tortuga, 
which,  as  we  have  told,  was  then  the  headquarters 
of  the  buccaneers,  and  "  the  common  place  of  refuge 
of  all  sorts  of  wickedness,  and  the  seminary,  as  it 
were,  of  all  manner  of  pirates." 


Chapter  XIII 
A  Resurrected  Pirate 

WHEN  L'Olonnois  arrived  at  Tortuga  he 
caused  great  astonishment  among  his  old 
associates  ;  that  he  had  come  back  a  com- 
parative pauper  surprised  no  one,  for  this  was  a 
'common  thing  to  happen  to  a  pirate,  but  the 
wonder  was  that  he  got  back  at  all. 

He  had  no  money,  but,  by  the  exercise  of  his 
crafty  abilities,  he  managed  to  get  possession  of  a 
ship,  which  he  manned  with  a  crew  of  about  a  score 
of  impecunious  dare-devils  who  were  very  anxious 
to  do  something  to  mend  their  fortunes. 

Having  now  become  very  fond  of  land-fighting, 
he  did  not  go  out  in  search  of  ships,  but  directed  his 
vessel  to  a  little  village  called  de  los  Cayos,  on  the 
coast  of  Cuba,  for  here,  he  thought,  was  a  chance 
for  a  good  and  easy  stroke  of  business.  This  vil- 
lage was  the  abode  of  industrious  people,  who  were 
traders  in  tobacco,  hides,  and  sugar,  and  who  were 
obliged  to  carry  on  their  traffic  in  a  rather  peculiar 
manner.     The  sea  near  their  town  was  shallow,  so 

100 


A  Resurrected  Pirate  loi 

that  large  ships  could  not  approach  very  near,  and 
thus  the  villagers  were  kept  busy  carrying  goods 
and  supplies  in  small  boats,  backwards  and  forwards 
from  the  town  to  the  vessels  at  anchor.  Here  was 
a  nice  little  prize  that  could  not  get  away  from  him, 
and  L'Olonnois  had  plenty  of  time  to  make  his 
preparations  to  seize  it.  As  he  could  not  sail  a  ship 
directly  up  to  the  town,  he  cruised  about  the  coast 
at  some  distance  from  de  los  Cayos,  endeavoring  to 
procure  two  small  boats  in  which  to  approach  the 
town,  but  although  his  preparations  were  made  as 
quietly  as  possible,  the  presence  of  his  vessel  was 
discovered  by  some  fishermen.  They  knew  that  it 
was  a  pirate  ship,  and  some  of  them  who  had  seen 
L'Olonnois  recognized  that  dreaded  pirate  upon 
the  deck.  Word  of  the  impending  danger  was 
taken  to  the  town,  and  the  people  there  immediately 
sent  a  message  by  land  to  Havana,  informing  the 
Governor  of  the  island  that  the  cruel  pirate  L'Olon- 
nois was  in  a  ship  a  short  distance  from  their  village, 
which  he  undoubtedly  intended  to  attack. 

When  the  Governor  heard  this  astonishing  tale. 
It  was  almost  impossible  for  him  to  believe  it.  The 
good  news  of  the  death  of  L'Olonnois  had  come 
from  Campeachy  to  Havana,  and  the  people  of  the 
latter  town  also  rejoiced  greatly.  To  be  now  told 
that  this  scourge  of  the  West  Indies  was  alive,  and 
was  about  to  fall  upon  a  peaceful  little  village  on  the 


I02     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

island  over  which  he  ruled,  filled  the  Governor  with 
rage  as  well  as  amazement,  and  he  ordered  a  well- 
armed  ship,  with  a  large  crew  of  fighting  men,  to 
sail  immediately  for  de  los  Cayos,  giving  the  captain 
express  orders  that  he  was  not  to  come  back  until 
he  had  obliterated  from  the  face  of  the  earth  the 
whole  of  the  wretched  gang  with  the  exception  of 
the  leader.  This  extraordinary  villain  was  to  be 
brought  to  Havana  to  be  treated  as  the  Governor 
should  see  fit.  In  order  that  his  commands  should 
be  executed  promptly  and  eflTectually,  the  Governor 
sent  a  big  negro  slave  in  the  ship,  who  was  charged 
with  the  duty  of  hanging  every  one  of  the  pirates 
except  L'Olonnois. 

By  the  time  the  war-vessel  had  arrived  at  de  los 
Cayos,  L'Olonnois  had  made  his  preparation  to 
attack  the  place.  He  had  procured  two  large  canoes, 
and  in  these  he  had  intended  to  row  up  to  the  town 
and  land  with  his  men.  But  now  there  was  a  change 
in  the  state  of  aflFairs,  and  he  was  obliged  to  alter 
his  plans.  The  ordinary  person  in  command  of  two 
small  boats,  who  should  suddenly  discover  that  a 
village  which  he  supposed  almost  defenceless,  was 
protected  by  a  large  man-of-war,  with  cannon  and  a 
well-armed  crew,  would  have  altered  his  plans  so 
completely  that  he  would  have  left  that  part  of  the 
coast  of  Cuba  with  all  possible  expedition.  But 
the  pirates  of  that  day  seemed  to  pay  very  little 


A  Resurrected  Pirate  103 

attention  to  the  element  of  odds ;  if  they  met  an 
enemy  who  was  weak,  they  would  fall  upon  him, 
and  if  they  met  with  one  who  was  a  good  deal 
stronger  than  themselves,  they  would  fall  upon  him 
all  the  same.  When  the  time  came  to  fight  they 
fought. 

Of  course  L'Olonnois  could  not  now  row  leisurely 
up  to  the  town  and  begin  to  pillage  it  as  he  had 
intended,  but  no  intention  of  giving  up  his  project 
entered  his  mind.  As  the  Spanish  vessel  was  in 
his  way,  he  would  attack  her  and  get  her  out  of  his 
way  if  the  thing  could  be  done. 

In  this  new  state  of  affairs  he  was  obliged  to  use 
stratagem,  and  he  also  needed  a  larger  force  than  he 
had  with  him,  and  he  therefore  captured  some  men 
who  were  fishing  along  the  coast  and  put  them  into 
his  canoes  to  help  work  the  oars.  Then  by  night 
he  proceeded  slowly  in  the  direction  of  the  Spanish 
vessel.  The  man-of-war  was  anchored  not  very  far 
from  the  town,  and  when  about  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  watch  on  deck  saw  some  canoes  ap- 
proaching they  supposed  them  to  be  boats  from 
shore,  for,  as  has  been  said,  such  vessels  were  con- 
tinually plying  about  those  shallow  waters.  The 
canoes  were  hailed,  and  after  having  given  an  account 
of  themselves  they  were  asked  if  they  knew  anything 
about  the  pirate  ship  upon  the  coast.  L'Olonnois 
understood  very  well  that  it  would  not  do  for  him 


I04     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

or  his  men  to  make  answer  to  these  inquiries,  for 
their  speech  would  have  shown  they  did  not  belong 
to  those  parts.  Therefore  he  made  one  of  his 
prisoner  fishermen  answer  that  they  had  not  seen  a 
pirate  vessel,  and  if  there  had  been  one  there,  it 
must  have  sailed  away  when  its  captain  heard  the 
Spanish  ship  was  coming.  Then  the  canoes  were 
allowed  to  go  their  way,  but  their  way  was  a  very 
different  one  from  any  which  could  have  been  ex- 
pected by  the  captain  of  the  ship. 

They  rowed  off  into  the  darkness  instead  of  going 
toward  the  town,  and  waited  until  nearly  daybreak, 
then  they  boldly  made  for  the  man-of-war,  one 
canoe  attacking  her  on  one  side  and  the  other  on  the 
other.  Before  the  Spanish  could  comprehend  what 
had  happened  there  were  more  than  twenty  pirates 
upon  their  decks,  the  dreaded  L'Olonnois  at  their 
head. 

In  such  a  case  as  this  cannon  were  of  no  use,  and 
when  the  crew  tried  to  rush  upon  deck,  they  found 
that  cutlasses  and  pistols  did  not  avail  very  much 
better.  The  pirates  had  the  advantage ;  they  had 
overpowered  the  watch,  and  were  defending  the  deck 
against  all  comers  from  below.  It  requires  a  very 
brave  sailor  to  stick  his  head  out  of  a  hatchway 
when  he  sees  three  or  four  cutlasses  ready  to  split  it 
open.  But  there  was  some  stout  fighting  on  board  ; 
the  officers  came  out  of  their  cabins,  and  some  of  the 


A  Resurrected  Pirate  105 

men  were  able  to  force  their  way  out  into  the 
struggle.  The  pirates  knew,  however,  that  they 
were  but  few  and  that  were  their  enemies  allowed  to 
get  on  deck  they  would  prove  entirely  too  strong, 
and  they  fought,  each  scoundrel  of  them,  like  three 
men,  and  the  savage  fight  ended  by  every  Spanish 
sailor  or  officer  who  was  not  killed  or  wounded 
being  forced  to  stay  below  decks,  where  the  hatches 
were  securely  fastened  down  upon  them. 

L'Olonnois  now  stood  a  proud  victor  on  the  deck 
of  his  prize,  and,  being  a  man  of  principle,  he  deter- 
mined to  live  up  to  the  distinguished  reputation 
which  he  had  acquired  in  that  part  of  the  world. 
Baring  his  muscular  and  hairy  right  arm,  he  clutched 
the  handle  of  his  sharp  and  heavy  cutlass  and  or- 
dered the  prisoners  to  be  brought  up  from  below, 
one  at  a  time,  and  conducted  to  the  place  where  he 
stood.  He  wished  to  give  Spain  a  lesson  which 
would  make  her  understand  that  he  was  not  to  be 
interfered  with  in  the  execution  of  his  enterprises, 
and  he  determined  to  allow  himself  the  pleasure  of 
personally  teaching  this  lesson. 

As  soon  as  a  prisoner  was  brought  to  L'Olonnois 
he  struck  off  his  head,  and  this  performance  he 
continued,  beginning  with  number  one,  and  going 
on  until  he  had  counted  ninety.  The  last  one 
brought  to  him  was  the  negro  slave.  This  man, 
who  was  not  a  soldier,  was  desperately  frightened 


io6     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

and  begged  piteously  for  his  life.  L'Olonnois,  find- 
ing that  the  man  was  willing  to  tell  everything  he 
knew,  questioned  him  about  the  sending  of  this 
vessel  from  Havana,  and  when  the  poor  fellow  had 
finished  by  telling  that  he  had  come  there,  not  of 
his  own  accord,  but  simply  for  the  purpose  of  obey- 
ing his  master,  to  hang  all  the  pirates  except  their 
leader,  that  great  buccaneer  laughed,  and,  finding 
he  could  get  nothing  more  from  the  negro,  cut  off 
his  head  likewise,  and  his  body  was  tumbled  into 
the  sea  after  those  of  his  companions. 

Now  there  was  not  a  Spaniard  left  on  board  the 
great  ship  except  one  man,  who  had  been  preserved 
from  the  fate  of  the  others  because  L'Olonnois  had 
some  correspondence  to  attend  to,  and  he  needed  a 
messenger  to  carry  a  letter.  The  pirate  captain 
went  into  the  cabin,  where  he  found  writing-mate- 
rials ready  to  his  hand,  and  there  he  composed  a 
letter  to  the  Governor  of  Havana,  a  part  of  which 
read  as  follows :  "  I  shall  never  henceforward  give 
quarter  unto  any  Spaniard  whatsoever.  And  I  have 
great  hopes  that  I  shall  execute  on  your  own  person 
the  very  same  punishment  I  have  done  to  them  you 
sent  against  me.  Thus  I  have  retaliated  the  kind- 
ness you  designed  unto  me  and  my  companions." 

When  this  message  was  received  by  the  dignified 
official  who  filled  the  post  of  Governor  of  Cuba,  he 
stormed  and  fairly  foamed  at  the  mouth.     To  be 


A  Resurrected  Pirate  lo? 


utterly  foiled  and  discomfited  by  this  resurrected 
pirate,  and  to  be  afterwards  addressed  in  terms  of 
such  unheard-of  insolence  and  abuse,  was  more  than 
he  could  bear,  and,  in  the  presence  of  many  of  his 
officials  and  attendants,  he  swore  a  terrible  oath  that 
after  that  hour  he  would  never  again  give  quarter 
to  any  buccaneer,  no  matter  when  or  where  he  was 
captured,  or  what  he  might  be  doing  at  the  time. 
Every  man  of  the  wretched  band  should  die  as  soon 
as  he  could  lay  hands  upon  him. 

But  when  the  inhabitants  of  Havana  and  the  sur- 
rounding villages  heard  of  this  terrible  resolution 
of  their  Governor  they  were  very  much  disturbed. 
They  lived  in  constant  danger  of  attack,  especially 
those  who  were  engaged  in  fishing  or  maritime  pur- 
suits, and  they  feared  that  when  it  became  known 
that  no  buccaneer  was  to  receive  quarter,  the  Span- 
ish colonists  would  be  treated  in  the  same  way,  no 
matter  where  they  might  be  found  and  taken.  Con- 
sequently, it  was  represented  to  the  Governor  that 
his  plan  of  vengeance  would  work  most  disastrously 
for  the  Spanish  settlers,  for  the  buccaneers  could  do 
far  more  damage  to  them  than  he  could  possibly  do 
to  these  dreadful  Brethren  of  the  Coast,  and  that, 
unless  he  wished  to  bring  upon  them  troubles 
greater  than  those  of  famine  or  pestilence,  they 
begged  that  he  would  retract  his  oath. 

When   the  high  dignitary  had   cooled   down   a 


io8     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

little,  he  saw  that  there  was  a  good  deal  of  sense 
in  what  the  representative  of  the  people  had  said 
to  him,  and  he  consequently  felt  obliged,  in  consid- 
eration of  the  public  safety,  to  take  back  what  he 
had  said,  and  to  give  up  the  purpose,  which  would 
have  rendered  unsafe  the  lives  of  so  many  peaceable 
people. 

L'Olonnois  was  now  the  possessor  of  a  fine  vessel 
which  had  not  been  in  the  least  injured  during  the 
battle  in  which  it  had  been  won.  But  his  little 
crew,  some  of  whom  had  been  killed  and  wounded, 
was  insufficient  to  work  such  a  ship  upon  an  impor- 
tant cruise  on  the  high  seas,  and  he  also  discovered, 
much  to  his  surprise,  that  there  were  very  few  pro- 
visions on  board,  for  when  the  vessel  was  sent  from 
Havana  it  was  supposed  she  would  make  but  a  very 
short  cruise.  This  savage  swinger  of  the  cutlass 
thereupon  concluded  that  he  would  not  try  to  do 
any  great  thing  for  the  present,  but,  having  obtained 
some  booty  and  men  from  the  woe-begone  town 
of  de  los  Cayos,  he  sailed  away,  touching  at  several 
other  small  ports  for  the  purpose  of  pillage,  and 
finally  anchoring  at  Tortuga. 


Chapter    XIV 
Villany  on  a  Grand  Scale 

WHEN  L*01onnoIs  landed. on  the  disrepu- 
table shores  of  Tortuga,  he  was  received 
by  all  circles  of  the  vicious  society  of  the 
island  with  loud  acclamation.  He  had  not  only 
taken  a  fine  Spanish  ship,  he  had  not  only  bearded 
the  Governor  of  Havana  in  his  fortified  den,  but 
he  had  struck  off  ninety  heads  with  his  own  hand. 
Even  people  who  did  not  care  for  him  before  rev- 
erenced him  now.  In  all  the  annals  of  piracy  no 
hero  had  ever  done  such  a  deed  as  this,  and  the 
best  records  of  human  butchering  had  been  broken. 
Now  grand  and  ambitious  ideas  began  to  swell 
the  head  of  this  champion  slaughterer,  and  he  con- 
ceived the  plan  of  getting  up  a  grand  expedition  to 
go  forth  and  capture  the  important  town  of  Mara- 
caibo,  in  New  Venezuela.  This  was  an  enterprise 
far  above  the  ordinary  aims  of  a  buccaneer,  and  it 
would  require  more  than  ordinary  force  to  accom- 
plish it.  He  therefore  set  himself  to  work  to  en- 
list a  large  number  of  men  and  to  equip  a  fleet  of 

109 


no     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

vessels,  of  which  he  was  to  be  chief  commander  or 
admiral.  There  were  a  great  many  unemployed 
pirates  in  Tortuga  at  that  time,  and  many  a  brawny 
rascal  volunteered  to  sail  under  the  flag  of  the  dar- 
ing butcher  of  the  seas. 

But  in  order  to  equip  a  fleet,  money  was  neces- 
sary as  well  as  men,  and  therefore  L'Olonnois 
thought  himself  very  lucky  when  he  succeeded  in 
interesting  the  principal  piratical  capitalist  of  Tor- 
tuga in  his  undertaking.  This  was  an  old  and 
seasoned  buccaneer  by  the  name  of  Michael  de 
Basco,  who  had  made  money  enough  by  his  pirati- 
cal exploits  to  retire  from  business  and  live  on  his 
income.  He  held  the  position  of  Mayor  of  the 
island  and  was  an  important  man  among  his  fellow- 
miscreants.  When  de  Basco  heard  of  the  great 
expedition  which  UOlonnois  was  about  to  under- 
take, his  whole  soul  was  fired  and  he  could  not  rest 
tamely  in  his  comfortable  quarters  when  such  great 
things  were  to  be  done,  and  he  oflTered  to  assist 
L'Olonnois  with  funds  and  join  in  the  expedition  if 
he  were  made  commander  of  the  land  forces.  This 
offer  was  accepted  gladly,  for  de  Basco  had  a  great 
reputation  as  a  fighter  in  Europe  as  well  as  in 
America. 

When  everything  had  been  made  ready,  UOlon- 
nois  set  sail  for  Maracaibo  with  a  fleet  of  eight 
ships.     On  the  way  they  captured  two  Spanish  ves- 


Villany  on  a  Grand   Scale  ll\ 

sels,  both  of  which  were  rich  prizes,  and  at  last  they 
arrived  before  the  town  which  they  intended  to 
capture. 

Maracaibo  was  a  prosperous  place  of  three  or  four 
thousand  inhabitants ;  they  were  rich  people  living  in 
fine  houses,  and  many  of  them  had  plantations  which 
extended  out  into  the  country.  In  every  way  the 
town  possessed  great  attractions  to  piratical  maraud- 
ers, but  there  were  difficulties  in  the  way ;  being 
such  an  important  place,  of  course  it  had  important 
defences.  On  an  island  in  the  harbor  there  was  a 
strong  fort,  or  castle,  and  on  another  island  a  little 
further  from  the  town  there  was  a  tall  tower,  on  the 
top  of  which  a  sentinel  was  posted  night  and  day  to 
give  notice  of  any  approaching  enemy.  Between 
these  two  islands  was  the  only  channel  by  which  the 
town  could  be  approached  from  the  sea.  But  in 
preparing  these  defences  the  authorities  had  thought 
only  of  defending  themselves  against  ordinary  naval 
forces  and  had  not  anticipated  the  extraordinary 
naval  methods  of  the  buccaneers  who  used  to  be 
merely  sea-robbers,  who  fell  upon  ships  after  they 
had  left  their  ports,  but  who  now  set  out  to  capture 
not  only  ships  at  sea  but  towns  on  land. 

L'Olonnois  had  too  much  sense  to  run  his  ships 
close  under  the  guns  of  the  fortress,  against  which 
he  could  expect  to  do  nothing,  for  the  buccaneers 
relied  but  little  upon  their  cannon,  and  so  they  paid 


112     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

no  more  attention  to  the  ordinary  harbor  than  if  it 
had  not  been  there,  but  sailed  into  a  fresh-water  lake 
at  some  distance  from  the  town,  and  out  of  sight  of 
the  tower.  There  UOlonnois  landed  his  men,  and, 
advancing  upon  the  fort  from  the  rear,  easily  crossed 
over  to  the  little  island  and  marched  upon  the  fort. 
It  was  very  early  in  the  morning.  The  garrison 
was  utterly  amazed  by  this  attack  from  land,  and 
although  they  fought  bravely  for  three  hours,  they 
were  obliged  to  give  up  the  defence  of  the  walls, 
and  as  many  of  them  as  could  do  so  got  out  of 
the  fort  and  escaped  to  the  mainland  and  the 
town. 

L'Olonnois  now  took  possession  of  the  fort,  and 
then,  with  the  greater  part  of  his  men,  he  returned 
to  his  ships,  brought  them  around  to  the  entrance 
of  the  bay,  and  then  boldly  sailed  with  his  whole 
fleet  under  the  very  noses  of  the  cannon  and  an- 
chored in  the  harbor  in  front  of  the  town. 

When  the  citizens  of  Maracaibo  heard  from  the 
escaping  garrison  that  the  fort  had  been  taken,  they 
were  filled  with  horror  and  dismay,  for  they  had  no 
further  means  of  defence.  They  knew  that  the 
pirates  had  come  there  for  no  other  object  than  to 
rob,  pillage,  and  cruelly  treat  them,  and  conse- 
quently as  many  as  possible  hurried  away  into  the 
woods  and  the  surrounding  country  with  as  many 
of  their  valuables  as  they  could  carry.     They  re- 


Villany  on  a  Grand  Scale  113 

sembled  the  citizens  of  a  town  attacked  by  the 
cholera  or  the  plague,  and  in  fact,  they  would  have 
preferred  a  most  terrible  pestilence  to  this  terrible 
scourge  of  piracy  from  which  they  were  about  to 
suffer. 

As  soon  as  L*01onnois  and  his  wild  pirates  had 
landed  in  the  city  they  devoted  themselves  entirely  to 
eating  and  drinking  and  making  themselves  merry. 
They  had  been  on  short  commons  during  the  latter 
part  of  their  voyage,  and  they  had  a  royal  time  with 
the  abundance  of  food  and  wine  which  they  found  in 
the  houses  of  the  town.  The  next  day,  however, 
they  set  about  attending  to  the  business  which  had 
brought  them  there,  and  parties  of  pirates  were  sent 
out  into  the  surrounding  country  to  find  the  people 
who  had  run  away  and  to  take  from  them  the  treas- 
ures they  had  carried  off.  But  although  a  great 
many  of  the  poor,  miserable,  unfortunate  citizens 
were  captured  and  brought  back  to  the  town,  there 
was  found  upon  them  very  little  money,  and  but 
few  jewels  or  ornaments  of  value.  And  now  L*01on- 
nois  began  to  prove  how  much  worse  his  presence 
was  than  any  other  misfortune  which  could  have 
happened  to  the  town.  He  tortured  the  poor  pris- 
oners, men,  women,  and  children,  to  make  them 
tell  where  they  had  hidden  their  treasures,  some- 
times hacking  one  of  them  with  his  sword,  declar- 
ing at  the  same  time  that  if  he  did  not  tell  where 


114     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

his  money  was  hidden  he  would  immediately  set  to 
work  to  cut  up  his  family  and  his  friends. 

The  cruelties  inflicted  upon  the  inhabitants  by 
this  vile  and  beastly  pirate  and  his  men  were  so 
horrible  that  they  could  not  be  put  into  print. 
Even  John  Esquemeling,  who  wrote  the  account 
of  it,  had  not  the  heart  to  tell  everything  that  had 
happened.  But  after  two  weeks  of  horror  and  tor- 
ture, the  pirates  were  able  to  get  but  comparatively 
little  out  of  the  town,  and  they  therefore  determined 
to  go  somewhere  else,  where  they  might  do  better. 

At  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Maracaibo,  about 
forty  leagues  from  the  town  which  the  pirates  had 
just  desolated  and  ruined,  lay  Gibraltar,  a  good- 
sized  and  prosperous  town,  and  for  this  place 
L'Olonnois  and  his  fleet  now  set  sail ;  but  they  were 
not  able  to  approach  unsuspected  and  unseen,  for 
news  of  their  terrible  doings  had  gone  before  them, 
and  their  coming  was  expected.  When  they  drew 
near  the  town  they  saw  the  flag  flying  from  the  fort, 
and  they  knew  that  every  preparation  had  been 
made  for  defence.  To  attack  such  a  place  as  this 
was  a  rash  undertaking ;  the  Spaniards  had  perhaps 
a  thousand  soldiers,  and  the  pirates  numbered  but 
three  hundred  and  eighty,  but  UOlonnois  did  not 
hesitate.  As  usual,  he  had  no  thought  of  bombard- 
ment, or  any  ordinary  method  of  naval  warfare; 
but  at  the  first  convenient  spot  he  landed  all  his 


I 

I  Villany  on  a  Grand  Scale  115 

men,  and  having  drawn  them  up  in  a  body,  he  made 
them  an  address.  He  made  them  understand 
clearly  the  difficult  piece  of  work  which  was  before 
them ;  but  he  assured  them  that  pirates  were  so 
much  in  the  habit  of  conquering  Spaniards  that  if 
they  would  all  promise  to  follow  him  and  do  their 
best,  he  was  certain  he  could  take  the  town.  He 
assured  them  that  it  would  be  an  ignoble  thing 
to  give  up  such  a  grand  enterprise  as  this  simply 
because  they  found  the  enemy  strong  and  so  well 
prepared  to  meet  them,  and  ended  by  stating  that  if 
he  saw  a  man  flinch  or  hold  back  for  a  second,  he 
would  pistol  him  with  his  own  hand.  Whereupon 
the  pirates  all  shook  hands  and  promised  they  would 
follow  L*01onnois  wherever  he  might  lead  them. 

This  they  truly  did,  and  L'Olonnois,  having  a 
very  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  proper  way  to  the 
town,  led  them  into  a  wild  bog,  where  this  precious 
pack  of  rascals  soon  found  themselves  up  to  their 
knees  in  mud  and  water,  and  in  spite  of  all  the 
cursing  and  swearing  which  they  did,  they  were  not 
able  to  press  through  the  bog  or  get  out  of  it. 
In  this  plight  they  were  discovered  by  a  body  of 
horsemen  from  the  town,  who  began  firing  upon 
them.  The  Spaniards  must  now  have  thought  that 
their  game  was  almost  bagged  and  that  all  they  had 
to  do  was  to  stand  on  the  edge  of  the  bog  and  shoot 
down  the  floundering  fellows  who  could  not  get 


1 1 6     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

away  from  them.  But  these  fellows  were  bloody 
buccaneers,  each  one  of  them  a  great  deal  harder 
to  kill  than  a  cat,  and  they  did  not  propose  to  stay 
in  the  bog  to  be  shot  down.  With  their  cutlasses 
they  hewed  off  branches  of  trees  and  threw  these 
down  in  the  bog,  making  a  sort  of  rude  roadway  by 
means  of  which  they  were  able  to  get  out  on  solid 
ground.  But  here  they  found  themselves  con- 
fronted by  a  large  body  of  Spaniards,  entrenched 
behind  earthworks.  Cannon  and  musket  were 
opened  upon  the  buccaneers,  and  the  noise  and 
smoke  were  so  terrible  they  could  scarcely  hear  the 
commands  of  their  leaders. 

Never  before,  perhaps,  had  pirates  been  engaged 
in  such  a  land  battle  as  this.  Very  soon  the  Span- 
iards charged  from  behind  their  earthworks,  and 
then  L'Olonnois  and  his  men  were  actually  obliged 
to  fly  back.  If  he  could  have  found  any  way  of 
retreating  to  his  ships,  L'Olonnois  would  doubtless 
have  done  so,  in  spite  of  his  doughty  words,  when 
he  addressed  his  men,  but  this  was  now  impossible, 
for  the  Spaniards  had  felled  trees  and  had  made 
a  barricade  between  the  pirates  and  their  ships. 
The  buccaneers  were  now  in  a  very  tight  place ; 
their  enemy  was  behind  defences  and  firing  at  them 
steadily,  without  showing  any  intention  of  coming 
out  to  give  the  pirates  a  chance  for  what  they  con- 
sidered a  fair  fight.     Every  now  and  then  a  buc- 


Villany  on  a  Grand  Scale  117 

caneer  would  fall,  and  L'Olonnois  saw  that  as  it 
would  be  utterly  useless  to  endeavor  to  charge  the 
barricade  he  must  resort  to  some  sort  of  trickery 
or  else  give  up  the  battle. 

Suddenly  he  passed  the  word  for  every  man  to 
turn  his  back  and  run  away  as  fast  as  he  could  from 
the  earthworks.  Away  scampered  the  pirates,  and 
from  the  valiant  Spaniards  there  came  a  shout  of 
victory.  The  soldiers  could  not  be  restrained  from 
following  the  fugitives  and  putting  to  death  every 
one  of  the  cowardly  rascals.  Away  went  the  buc- 
caneers, and  after  them,  hot  and  furious,  came  the 
soldiers.  But  as  soon  as  the  Spaniards  were  so  far 
away  from  their  entrenchments  that  they  could  not 
get  back  to  them,  the  crafty  L'Olonnois,  who  ran 
with  one  eye  turned  behind  him,  called  a  halt,  his 
men  turned,  formed  into  battle  array,  and  began  an 
onslaught  upon  their  pursuing  enemy,  such  as  these 
military  persons  had  never  dreamed  of  in  their 
wildest  imagination.  We  are  told  that  over  two 
hundred  Spaniards  perished  in  a  very  short  time. 
Before  a  furious  pirate  with  a  cutlass  a  soldier  with 
his  musket  seemed  to  have  no  chance  at  all,  and 
very  soon  the  Spaniards  who  were  left  alive  broke 
and  ran  into  the  woods. 

The  buccaneers  formed  into  a  body  and  marched 
toward  the  town,  which  surrendered  without  firing 
a  gun,  and  UOlonnois  and  his  men,  who,  but  an  hour 


Ii8     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

before,  had  been  in  danger  of  being  shot  down  by 
their  enemy  as  if  they  had  been  rabbits  in  a  pen,  now 
marched  boldly  into  the  centre  of  the  town,  pulled 
down  the  Spanish  flag,  and  hoisted  their  own  in  its 
place.  They  were  the  masters  of  Gibraltar.  Never 
had  ambitious  villany  been  more  successful. 


Chapter  XV 
A  Just  Reward 

WHEN  UOlonnois  and  his  buccaneers  en- 
tered the  town  of  Gibraltar  they  found 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants 
had  fled,  but  there  were  many  people  left,  and  these 
were  made  prisoners  as  fast  as  they  were  discovered. 
They  were  all  forced  to  go  into  the  great  church, 
and  then  the  pirates,  fearing  that  the  Spaniards  out- 
side of  the  town  might  be  reenforced  and  come  back 
again  to  attack  them,  carried  a  number  of  cannon 
into  the  church  and  fortified  the  building.  When 
this  had  been  done,  they  felt  safe  and  began  to  act 
as  if  they  had  been  a  menagerie  of  wild  beasts  let 
loose  upon  a  body  of  defenceless  men,  women,  and 
children.  Not  only  did  these  wretched  men  rush 
into  the  houses,  stealing  everything  valuable  they 
could  find  and  were  able  to  carry  away,  but  when 
they  had  gathered  together  all  they  could  discover 
they  tortured  their  poor  prisoners  by  every  cruel 
method  they  could  think  of,  in  order  to  make  them 
tell  where  more  treasures  were  concealed.     Many 

"9     . 


I20     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

of  these  unfortunates  had  had  nothing  to  hide,  and 
therefore  could  give  no  information  to  their  brutal 
inquisitors,  and  others  died  without  telling  what 
they  had  done  with  their  valuables.  When  the 
town  had  been  thoroughly  searched  and  sifted,  the 
pirates  sent  men  out  into  the  little  villages  and 
plantations  in  the  country,  and  even  hunters  and 
small  farmers  were  captured  and  made  to  give  up 
everything  they  possessed  which  was  worth  taking. 

For  nearly  three  weeks  these  outrageous  proceed- 
ings continued,  and  to  prove  that  they  were  lower 
than  the  brute  beasts  they  allowed  the  greater  num- 
ber of  the  prisoners  collected  in  the  church,  to  per- 
ish of  hunger.  There  were  not  provisions  enough 
in  the  town  for  the  pirates*  own  uses  and  for  these 
miserable  creatures  also,  and  so,  with  the  exception 
of  a  small  quantity  of  mule  flesh,  which  many  of 
the  prisoners  could  not  eat,  they  got  nothing  what- 
ever, and  slowly  starved. 

When  L'Olonnois  and  his  fiends  had  been  in 
possession  of  Gibraltar  for  about  a  month,  they 
thought  it  was  time  to  leave,  but  their  greedy  souls 
were  not  satisfied  with  the  booty  they  had  already 
obtained,  and  they  therefore  sent  messages  to  the 
Spaniards  who  were  still  concealed  in  the  forests, 
that  unless  in  the  course  of  two  days  a  ransom  of 
ten  thousand  pieces  of  eight  were  paid  to  them,  they 
would  burn  the  town  to  the  ground.     No  matter 


A  Just  Reward  I2i 

what  they  thought  of  this  heartless  demand,  it 
was  not  easy  for  the  scattered  citizens  to  collect 
such  a  sum  as  this,  and  the  two  days  passed  without 
the  payment  of  the  ransom,  and  the  relentless  pirates 
promptly  carried  out  their  threat  and  set  the  town 
on  fire  in  various  places.  When  the  poor  Spaniards 
saw  this  and  perceived  that  they  were  about  to  lose 
even  their  homes,  they  sent  to  the  town  and  prom- 
ised that  if  the  pirates  would  put  out  the  fires  they 
would  pay  the  money.  In  the  hope  of  more  money, 
and  not  in  the  least  moved  by  any  feeling  of  kind- 
ness, L'Olonnois  ordered  his  men  to  help  put  out 
the  fires,  but  they  were  not  extinguished  until  a 
quarter  of  the  town  was  entirely  burned  and  a  fine 
church  reduced  to  ashes. 

When  the  buccaneers  found  they  could  squeeze 
nothing  more  out  of  the  town,  they  went  on  board 
their  ships,  carrying  with  them  all  the  plunder  and 
booty  they  had  collected,  and  among  their  spoils 
were  about  five  hundred  slaves,  of  all  ages  and  both 
sexes,  who  had  been  offered  an  opportunity  to  ran- 
som themselves,  but  who,  of  course,  had  no  money 
with  which  to  buy  their  freedom,  and  who  were 
now  condemned  to  a  captivity  worse  than  anything 
they  had  ever  known  before. 

;  Now  the  eight  ships  with  their  demon  crews  sailed 
away  over  the  lake  toward  Maracaibo.  It  was 
quite  possible  for  them  to  get  out  to  sea  without 


122     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

revisiting  this  unfortunate  town,  but  as  this  would 
have  been  a  very  good  thing  for  them  to  do,  it  was 
impossible  for  them  to  do  it ;  no  chance  to  do  any- 
thing wicked  was  ever  missed  by  these  pirates. 
Consequently  L'Olonnois  gave  orders  to  drop  an- 
chor near  the  city,  and  then  he  sent  some  messengers 
ashore  to  inform  the  already  half-ruined  citizens 
that  unless  they  sent  him  thirty  thousand  pieces  of 
eight  he  would  enter  their  town  again,  carry  away 
everything  they  had  left,  and  burn  the  place  to  the 
ground.  The  poor  citizens  sent  a  committee  to 
confer  with  the  pirates,  and  while  the  negotiations 
were  going  on  some  of  the  conscienceless  buccaneers 
went  on  shore  and  carried  oiF  from  one  of  the  great 
churches  its  images,  pictures,  and  even  its  bells.  It 
was  at  last  arranged  that  the  citizens  should  pay 
twenty  thousand  pieces  of  eight,  which  was  the 
utmost  sum  they  could  possibly  raise,  and,  in  ad- 
dition to  this,  five  hundred  head  of  beef-cattle,  and 
the  pirates  promised  that  if  this  were  done  they 
would  depart  and  molest  the  town  no  more.  The 
money  was  paid,  the  cattle  were  put  on  board  the 
ships,  and  to  the  unspeakable  relief  of  the  citizens, 
the  pirate  fleet  sailed  away  from  the  harbor. 

But  it  would  be  difficult  to  express  the  horror 
and  dismay  of  those  same  citizens  when,  three  days 
afterward,  those  pirate  ships  all  came  back  again. 
Black  despair  now  fell  upon  the  town;  there  was 


A  Just  Reward  123 

nothing  more  to  be  stolen,  and  these  wretches  must 
have  repented  that  they  had  left  the  town  standing, 
and  had  returned  to  burn  it  down.  But  when  one 
man  came  ashore  in  a  boat  bringing  the  intelligence 
that  L'Olonnois  could  not  get  his  largest  ship  across 
a  bar  at  the  entrance  to  the  lake,  and  that  he  wanted 
a  pilot  to  show  him  the  channel,  then  the  spirits  of 
the  people  went  up  like  one  great  united  rocket, 
bursting  into  the  most  beautiful  coruscations  of 
sparks  and  colors.  There  was  nothing  on  earth  that 
they  would  be  so  glad  to  furnish  him  as  a  pilot  to 
show  him  how  to  sail  away  from  their  shores.  The 
pilot  was  instantly  sent  to  the  fleet,  and  L'Olonnois 
and  his  devastating  band  departed. 

They  did  not  go  directly  to  Tortuga,  but  stopped 
at  a  little  island  near  Hispaniola,  which  was  in- 
habited by  French  buccaneers,  and  this  delay  was 
made  entirely  for  the  purpose  of  dividing  the  booty. 
It  seems  strange  that  any  principle  of  right  and  jus- 
tice should  have  been  regarded  by  these  dishonest 
knaves,  even  in  their  relations  to  each  other,  but 
they  had  rigid  rules  in  regard  to  the  division  of  their 
spoils,  and  according  to  these  curious  regulations 
the  whole  amount  of  plunder  was  apportioned  among 
the  officers  and  crews  of  the  diflTerent  ships. 

Before  the  regular  allotment  of  shares  was  made, 
the  claims  of  the  wounded  were  fully  satisfied  accord- 
ing to  their  established  code.     For  the  loss  of  a 


124     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

right  arm  a  man  was  paid  about  six  hundred  dollars^ 
or  six  slaves  ;  for  the  loss  of  a  left  arm,  five  hundred 
dollars,  or  five  slaves ;  for  a  missing  right  leg,  five 
hundred  dollars,  or  five  slaves  ;  for  a  missing  left  leg, 
four  hundred  dollars,  or  four  slaves ;  for  an  eye  or  a 
finger,  one  hundred  dollars,  or  one  slave.  Then  the 
rest  of  the  money  and  spoils  were  divided  among  all 
the  buccaneers  without  reference  to  what  had  been  paid 
to  the  wounded.  The  shares  of  those  who  had  been 
killed  were  given  to  friends  or  acquaintances,  who 
undertook  to  deliver  them  to  their  families. 

The  spoils  in  this  case  consisted  of  two  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  dollars  in  money  and  a  great 
quantity  of  valuable  goods,  besides  many  slaves 
and  precious  stones  and  jewels.  These  latter  were 
apportioned  among  the  men  in  the  most  ridiculous 
manner,  the  pirates  having  no  idea  of  the  relative 
value  of  the  jewels,  some  of  them  preferring  large 
and  worthless  colored  stones  to  smaller  diamonds 
and  rubies.  When  all  their  wickedly  gained  prop- 
erty had  been  divided,  the  pirates  sailed  to  Tortuga, 
where  they  proceeded,  without  loss  of  time,  to  get 
rid  of  the  wealth  they  had  amassed.  They  ate, 
they  drank,  they  gambled ;  they  crowded  the  tav- 
erns as  taverns  have  never  been  crowded  before; 
they  sold  their  valuable  merchandise  for  a  twentieth 
part  of  its  value  to  some  of  the  more  level-headed 
people  of  the  place ;   and  having  rioted,  gambled, 


The  money  and  spoils  were  divided  among  all  the  buccaneers." 

—  p.   124. 


A  Just  Reward  125 

and  committed  every  sort  of  extravagance  for  about 
three  weeks,  the  majority  of  L'Olonnois'  rascally 
crew  found  themselves  as  poor  as  when  they  had 
started  off  on  their  expedition.  It  took  them 
almost  as  long  to  divide  their  spoils  as  it  did  to  get 
rid  of  them. 

As  these  precious  rascals  had  now  nothing  to  live 
upon,  it  was  necessary  to  start  out  again  and  commit 
some  more  acts  of  robbery  and  ruin ;  and  L'Olon- 
nois,  whose  rapacious  mind  seems  to  have  been 
filled  with  a  desire  for  town-destroying,  projected 
an  expedition  to  Nicaragua,  where  he  proposed  to 
pillage  and  devastate  as  many  towns  and  villages 
as  possible.  His  reputation  as  a  successful  com- 
mander was  now  so  high  that  he  had  no  trouble  in 
getting  men,  for  more  offered  themselves  than  he 
could  possibly  take. 

He  departed  with  seven  hundred  men  and  six 
ships,  stopping  on  the  way  near  the  coast  of  Cuba, 
and  robbing  some  poor  fishermen  of  their  boats, 
which  he  would  need  in  shallow  water.  Their 
voyage  was  a  very  long  one,  and  they  were  beset 
by  calms,  and  instead  of  reaching  Nicaragua,  they 
drifted  into  the  Gulf  of  Honduras.  Here  they 
found  themselves  nearly  out  of  provisions,  and 
were  obliged  to  land  and  scour  the  country  to  find 
something  to  eat.  Leaving  their  ships,  they  began 
a  land  march  through  the  unfortunate  region  where 


126     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

they  now  found  themselves.  They  robbed  Indians, 
they  robbed  villages  ;  they  devastated  little  towns, 
taking  everything  that  they  cared  for,  and  burning 
what  they  did  not  want,  and  treating  the  people 
they  captured  with  viler  cruelties  than  any  in  which 
the  buccaneers  had  yet  indulged.  Their  great  object 
was  to  take  everything  they  could  find,  and  then 
try  to  make  the  people  confess  where  other  things 
were  hidden.  Men  and  women  were  hacked  to 
pieces  with  swords ;  it  was  L'Olonnois*  pleasure, 
when  a  poor  victim  had  nothing  to  tell,  to  tear 
out  his  tongue  with  his  own  hands,  and  it  is  said 
that  on  some  occasions  his  fury  was  so  great  that 
he  would  cut  out  the  heart  of  a  man  and  bite  at  it 
with  his  great  teeth.  No  more  dreadful  miseries 
could  be  conceived  than  those  inflicted  upon  the 
peaceful  inhabitants  of  the  country  through  which 
these  wretches  passed.  They  frequently  met  am- 
buscades of  Spaniards,  who  endeavored  to  stop 
their  progress ;  but  this  was  impossible.  The 
pirates  were  too  strong  in  number  and  too  savage 
in  disposition  to  be  resisted  by  ordinary  Christians, 
and  they  kept  on  their  wicked  way. 

At  last  they  reached  a  town  called  San  Pedro, 
which  was  fairly  well  defended,  having  around  it  a 
great  hedge  of  prickly  thorns ;  but  thorns  cannot 
keep  out  pirates,  and  after  a  severe  fight  the  citi- 
zens  surrendered,  on  condition  that   they  should 


A  Just  Reward  127 

have  two  hours'  truce.  This  was  given,  and  the 
time  was  occupied  by  the  people  in  running  away 
into  the  woods  and  carrying  off  their  valuables. 
But  when  the  two  hours  had  expired,  L*01onnois 
and  his  men  entered  the  town,  and  instead  of  rum- 
maging around  to  see  what  they  could  find,  they 
followed  the  unfortunate  people  into  the  woods,  for 
they  well  understood  what  they  wanted  when  they 
asked  for  a  truce,  and  robbed  them  of  nearly  every- 
thing they  had  taken  away. 

But  the  capture  of  this  town  was  not  of  much 
service  to  L'Olonnois,  who  did  not  find  provisions 
enough  to  feed  his  men.  Their  supplies  ran  very 
low,  and  it  was  not  long  before  they  were  in  danger 
of  starvation.  Consequently  they  made  their  way 
by  the  most  direct  course  to  the  coast,  where  they 
hoped  to  be  able  to  get  something  to  eat.  If  they 
could  find  nothing  else,  they  might  at  least  catch 
fish.  On  their  way  every  rascal  of  them  prepared 
himself  a  net,  made  out  of  the  fibres  of  a  certain 
plant,  which  grew  in  abundance  in  those  regions,  in 
order  that  he  might  catch  himself  a  supper  when 
he  reached  the  sea. 

After  a  time  the  buccaneers  got  back  to  their 
fleet  and  remained  on  the  coast  about  three  months, 
waiting  for  some  expected  Spanish  ships,  which 
they  hoped  to  capture.  They  eventually  met  with 
one,  and  after  a  great  deal  of  ordinary  fighting  and 


128     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

stratagem  they  boarded  and  took  her,  but  found 
her  not  a  very  valuable  prize. 

Now  UOlonnois  proposed  to  his  men  that  they 
should  sail  for  Guatemala,  but  he  met  with  an  un- 
expected obstacle ;  the  buccaneers  who  had  enlisted 
under  him  had  expected  to  make  great  fortunes  in 
this  expedition,  but  their  high  hopes  had  not  been 
realized.  They  had  had  very  little  booty  and  very 
little  food,  they  were  hungry  and  disappointed  and 
wanted  to  go  home,  and  the  great  majority  of  them 
declined  to  follow  L'Olonnois  any  farther.  But 
there  were  some  who  declared  that  they  would 
rather  die  than  go  home  to  Tortuga  as  poor  as 
when  they  left  it,  and  so  remained  with  UOlonnois 
on  the  biggest  ship  of  the  fleet,  which  he  com- 
manded. The  smaller  vessels  now  departed  for 
Tortuga,  and  after  some  trouble  L'Olonnois  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  his  vessel  out  of  the  harbor  where 
it  had  been  anchored,  and  sailed  for  the  islands  of 
de  las  Pertas.  Here  he  had  the  misfortune  to  run 
his  big  vessel  hopelessly  aground. 

When  they  found  it  absolutely  impossible  to  get 
their  great  vessel  off  the  sand  banks,  the  pirates  set 
to  work  to  break  her  up  and  build  a  boat  out  of  her 
planks.  This  was  a  serious  undertaking,  but  it  was 
all  they  could  do.  They  could  not  swim  away,  and 
their  ship  was  of  no  use  to  them  as  she  was.  But 
when  they  began  to  work  they  had  no  idea  it  would 


A  Just  Reward  129 

take  so  long  to  build  a  boat.  It  was  several  months 
before  the  unwieldy  craft  was  finished,  and  they 
occupied  part  of  the  time  in  gardening,  planting 
French  beans,  which  came  to  maturity  in  six  weeks, 
and  gave  them  some  fresh  vegetables.  They  also 
had  some  stores  and  portable  stoves  on  board  their 
dismantled  ship,  and  made  bread  from  some  wheat 
which  was  among  their  provisions,  thus  managing 
to  live  very  well. 

UOlonnois  was  never  intended  by  nature  to  be 
a  boat-builder,  or  anything  else  that  was  useful  and 
honest,  and  when  the  boat  was  finished  it  was  dis- 
covered that  it  had  been  planned  so  badly  that  it 
would  not  hold  them  all,  so  all  they  could  do  was 
to  draw  lots  to  see  who  should  embark  in  her,  for 
one-half  of  them  would  have  to  stay  until  the  others 
came  back  to  release  them.  Of  course  L'Olonnois 
went  away  in  the  boat,  and  reached  the  mouth  of 
the  Nicaragua  River.  There  his  party  was  attacked 
by  some  Spaniards  and  Indians,  who  killed  more 
than  half  of  them  and  prevented  the  others  from 
landing.  L'Olonnois  and  the  rest  of  his  men  got 
safely  away,  and  they  might  now  have  sailed  back 
to  the  island  where  they  had  left  their  comrades, 
for  there  was  room  enough  for  them  all  in  the  boat. 
But  they  did  nothing  of  the  sort,  but  went  to  the 
coast  of  Cartagena. 

The  pirates  left  on  the  island  were  eventually 


ijo     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

taken  off  by  a  buccaneering  vessel,  but  L*01onnois 
had  now  reached  the  end  of  the  string  by  which  the 
devil  had  allowed  him  to  gambol  on  this  earth  for 
so  long  a  time.  On  the  shores  where  he  had  now 
landed  he  did  not  find  prosperous  villages,  treasure 
houses,  and  peaceful  inhabitants,  who  could  be 
robbed  and  tortured,  but  instead  of  these  he  came 
upon  a  community  of  Indians,  who  were  called  by 
the  Spaniards,  Bravos,  or  wild  men.  These  people 
would  never  have  anything  to  do  with  the  whites. 
It  was  impossible  to  conquer  them  or  to  pacify 
them  by  kind  treatment.  They  hated  the  white 
man  and  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  him. 
They  had  heard  of  L'Olonnois  and  his  buccaneers, 
and  when  they  found  this  notorious  pirate  upon  their 
shores  they  were  filled  with  a  fury  such  as  they  had 
never  felt  for  any  others  of  his  race. 

These  bloody  pirates  had  always  conquered  in 
their  desperate  fights  because  they  were  so  reckless 
and  so  savage,  but  now  they  had  fallen  among 
thoroughbred  savages,  more  cruel  and  more  brutal 
and  pitiless  than  themselves.  Nearly  all  the  buc- 
caneers were  killed,  and  L'Olonnois  was  taken  pris- 
oner. His  furious  captors  tore  his  living  body 
apart,  piece  by  piece,  and  threw  each  fragment  into 
the  fire,  and  when  the  whole  of  this  most  inhuman 
of  inhuman  men  had  been  entirely  consumed,  they 
scattered  his  ashes  to  the  winds  so  that  not  a  trace 


A  Just  Reward  131 

should  remain  on  earth  of  this  monster.  If,  in  his 
infancy,  he  had  died  of  croup,  the  history  of  the 
human  race  would  have  lost  some  of  its  blackest 
pages. 


Chapter  XVI 
A  Pirate  Potentate 

SOMETIME  in  the  last  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century  on  a  quiet  farm  in  a  secluded  part  of 
Wales  there  was  born  a  little  boy  baby. 
His  father  was  a  farmer,  and  his  mother  churned, 
and  tended  the  cows  and  the  chickens,  and  there 
was  no  reason  to  imagine  that  this  gentle  little  baby, 
born  and  reared  in  this  rural  solitude,  would  become 
one  of  the  most  formidable  pirates  that  the  world 
ever  knew.     Yet  such  was  the  case. 

The  baby's  name  was  Henry  Morgan,  and  as  he 
grew  to  be  a  big  boy  a  distaste  for  farming  grew 
with  him.  So  strong  was  his  dislike  that  when  he 
became  a  young  man  he  ran  away  to  the  seacoast, 
for  he  had  a  fancy  to  be  a  sailor.  There  he  found 
a  ship  bound  for  the  West  Indies,  and  in  this  he 
started  out  on  his  life's  career.  He  had  no  money  to 
pay  his  passage,  and  he  therefore  followed  the  usual 
custom  of  those  days  and  sold  himself  for  a  term  of 
three  years  to  an  agent  who  was  taking  out  a  number 
of  men  to  work  on  the  plantations.     In  the  places 

132 


A  Pirate  Potentate  133 

where  these  men  were  enlisted  they  were  termed 
servants,  but  when  they  got  to  the  new  world  they 
were  generally  called  slaves  and  treated  as  such. 

When  young  Morgan  reached  the  Barbadoes  he 
was  resold  to  a  planter,  and  during  his  term  of  ser- 
vice he  probably  worked  a  good  deal  harder  and 
was  treated  much  more  roughly  than  any  of  the 
laborers  on  his  father's  farm.  But  as  soon  as  he 
was  a  free  man  he  went  to  Jamaica,  and  there  were 
few  places  in  the  world  where  a  young  man  could 
be  more  free  and  more  independent  than  in  this  law- 
less island. 

Here  were  rollicking  and  blustering  "  flibustiers," 
and  here  the  young  man  determined  to  study  piracy. 
He  was  not  a  sailor  and  hunter  who  by  the  force 
of  circumstances  gradually  became  a  buccaneer,  but 
he  deliberately  selected  his  profession,  and  immedi- 
ately set  to  work  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  its 
practice.  There  was  a  buccaneer  ship  about  to  sail 
from  Jamaica,  and  on  this  Morgan  enlisted.  He 
was  a  clever  fellow  and  very  soon  showed  himself  to 
be  a  brave  and  able  sailor. 

After  three  or  four  voyages  he  acquired  a  reputa- 
tion for  remarkable  coolness  in  emergencies,  and 
showed  an  ability  to  take  advantage  of  favorable 
circumstances,  which  was  not  possessed  by  many  of 
his  comrades.  These  prominent  traits  in  his  char- 
acter became   the  foundation  of  his  success.     He 


134     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

also  proved  himself  a  very  good  business  man,  and 
having  saved  a  considerable  amount  of  money  he 
joined  with  some  other  buccaneers  and  bought  a 
ship,  of  which  he  took  command.  This  ship  soon 
made  itself  a  scourge  in  the  Spanish  seas ;  no  other 
buccaneering  vessel  was  so  widely  known  and  so 
greatly  feared,  and  the  English  people  in  these 
regions  were  as  proud  of  the  young  Captain  Mor- 
gan as  if  he  had  been  a  regularly  commissioned 
admiral,  cruising  against  an  acknowledged  enemy. 

Returning  from  one  of  his  voyages  Morgan  found 
an  old  buccaneer,  named  Mansvelt,  in  Jamaica,  who 
had  gathered  together  a  fleet  of  vessels  with  which 
he  was  about  to  sail  for  the  mainland.  This  expedi- 
tion seemed  a  promising  one  to  Morgan,  and  he 
joined  it,  being  elected  vice-admiral  of  the  fleet  of 
fifteen  vessels.  Since  the  successes  of  L'Olonnois 
and  others,  attacks  upon  towns  had  become  very 
popular  with  the  buccaneers,  whose  leaders  were 
getting  to  be  tired  of  the  retail  branch  of  their  busi- 
ness ;  that  is,  sailing  about  in  one  ship  and  capturing 
such  merchantmen  as  it  might  fall  in  with. 

Mansvelt's  expedition  took  with  it  not  only  six 
hundred  fighting  pirates,  but  one  writing  pirate,  for 
John  Esquemeling  accompanied  it,  and  so  far  as  the 
fame  and  reputation  of  these  adventurers  was  con- 
cerned his  pen  was  mightier  than  their  swords,  for 
had  it  not  been  for  his  account  of  their  deeds  very 


A  Pirate  Potentate 


'35 


little  about  them  would  have  been  known  to  the 
world. 

The  fleet  sailed  directly  for  St.  Catherine,  an 
island  near  Costa  Rica,  which  was  strongly  fortified 
by  the  Spaniards  and  used  by  them  as  a  station  for 
ammunition  and  supplies,  and  also  as  a  prison. 
The  pirates  landed  upon  the  island  and  made  a 
most  furious  assault  upon  the  fortifications,  and 
although  they  were  built  of  stone  and  well  furnished 
with  cannon,  the  savage  assailants  met  with  their 
usual  good  fortune.  They  swarmed  over  the  walls 
and  carried  the  place  at  the  edge  of  the  cutlass  and 
the  mouth  of  the  pistol.  In  this  fierce  fight  Mor- 
gan performed  such  feats  of  valor  that  even  some 
of  the  Spaniards  who  had  been  taken  prisoners, 
were  forced  to  praise  his  extraordinary  courage  and 
ability  as  a  leader. 

The  buccaneers  proceeded  to  make  very  good 
use  of  their  victory.  They  captured  some  small 
adjoining  islands  and  brought  the  cannon  from 
them  to  the  main  fortress,  which  they  put  in  a  good 
condition  of  defence.  Here  they  confined  all  their 
prisoners  and  slaves,  and  supplied  the  island  with 
an  abundance  of  stores  and  provisions. 

It  is  believed  that  when  Mansvelt  formed  the 
plan  of  capturing  this  island  he  did  so  with  the  idea 
of  founding  there  a  permanent  pirate  principality, 
the  inhabitants  of  which  should  not  consider  them- 


m 


136     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

selves  English,  French,  or  Dutch,  but  plain  pirates, 
having  a  nationality  and  country  of  their  own.  Had 
the  seed  thus  planted  by  Mansvelt  and  Morgan 
grown  and  matured,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  whole 
of  the  West  Indies  might  now  be  owned  and  inhab- 
ited by  an  independent  nation,  whose  founders  were 
the  bold  buccaneers. 

When  everything  had  been  made  tight  and  right 
at  St.  Catherine,  Mansvelt  and  Morgan  sailed  for 
the  mainland,  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  an  inland 
town  called  Nata,  but  in  this  expedition  they  were 
not  successful.  The  Spanish  Governor  of  the  prov- 
ince had  heard  of  their  approach,  and  met  them  with 
a  body  of  soldiers  so  large  that  they  prudently  gave 
up  the  attempt,  —  a  proceeding  not  very  common 
with  them,  but  Morgan  was  not  only  a  dare-devil 
of  a  pirate,  but  a  very  shrewd  Welshman. 

They  returned  to  the  ships,  and  after  touching 
at  St.  Catherine  and  leaving  there  enough  men  to 
defend  it,  under  the  command  of  a  Frenchman 
named  Le  Sieur  Simon,  they  sailed  for  Jamaica. 
Everything  at  St.  Catherine  was  arranged  for  per- 
manent occupation ;  there  was  plenty  of  fresh  water, 
and  the  ground  could  be  cultivated,  and  Simon  was 
promised  that  additional  forces  should  be  sent  him 
so  that  he  could  hold  the  island  as  a  regular  station 
for  the  assembling  and  fitting  out  of  pirate  vessels. 

The  permanent  pirate  colony  never  came  to  any- 


A  Pirate  Potentate  137 

thing;  no  reenforcements  were  sent;  Mansvelt 
died,  and  the  Spaniards  gathered  together  a  sufficient 
force  to  retake  the  island  of  St.  Catherine,  and  make 
prisoners  of  Simon  and  his  men.  This  was  a  blow 
to  Morgan,  who  had  had  great  hopes  of  the  fortified 
station  he  thought  he  had  so  firmly  established,  but 
after  the  project  failed  he  set  about  forming  another 
expedition. 

He  was  now  recognized  as  buccaneer-in-chief 
of  the  West  Indies,  and  he  very  soon  gathered 
together  twelve  ships  and  seven  hundred  men. 
Everything  was  made  ready  to  sail,  and  the  only 
thing  left  to  be  done  was  to  decide  what  particular 
place  they  should  favor  with  a  visit. 

There  were  some  who  advised  an  attack  upon 
Havana,  giving  as  a  reason  that  in  that  city  there 
were  a  great  many  nuns,  monks,  and  priests,  and 
if  they  could  capture  them,  they  might  ask  as  ran- 
som for  them,  a  sum  a  great  deal  larger  than  they 
could  expect  to  get  from  the  pillage  of  an  ordinary 
town.  But  Havana  was  considered  to  be  too  strong 
a  place  for  a  profitable  venture,  and  after  several 
suggestions  had  been  made,  at  last  a  deserter  from 
the  Spanish  army,  who  had  joined  them,  came  for- 
ward with  a  good  idea.  He  told  the  pirates  of  a 
town  in  Cuba,  to  which  he  knew  the  way ;  it  was 
named  Port-au-Prince,  and  was  situated  so  far  inland 
that  it  had  never  been  sacked.     When  the  pirates 


138     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

heard  that  there  existed  an  entirely  fresh  and  unpil- 
laged  town,  they  were  filled  with  as  much  excited 
delight  as  if  they  had  been  a  party  of  school-boys 
who  had  just  been  told  where  they  might  find  a 
tree  full  of  ripe  apples  which  had  been  overlooked 
by  the  men  who  had  been  gathering  the  crop. 

When  Morgan's  fleet  arrived  at  the  nearest  har- 
bor to  Port-au-Prince,  he  landed  his  men  and 
marched  toward  the  town,  but  he  did  not  succeed  in 
making  a  secret  attack,  as  he  had  hoped.  One  of 
his  prisoners,  a  Spaniard,  let  himself  drop  overboard 
as  soon  as  the  vessels  cast  anchor,  and  swimming 
ashore,  hurried  to  Port-au-Prince  and  informed  the 
Governor  of  the  attack  which  was  about  to  be  made 
on  the  town.  Thus  prepared,  this  able  commander 
knew  just  what  to  do.  He  marched  a  body  of 
soldiers  along  the  road  by  which  the  pirates  must 
come,  and  when  he  found  a  suitable  spot  he  caused 
great  trees  to  be  cut  down  and  laid  across  the  road, 
thus  making  a  formidable  barricade.  Behind  this 
his  soldiers  were  posted  with  their  muskets  and 
their  cannon,  and  when  the  pirates  should  arrive 
they  would  find  that  they  would  have  to  do  some 
extraordinary  fighting  before  they  could  pass  this 
well-defended  barrier. 

When  Morgan  came  within  sight  of  this  barri- 
cade, he  understood  that  the  Spaniards  had  dis- 
covered his  approach,  and  so  he  called  a  halt.     He 


A  Pirate  Potentate  139 

had  always  been  opposed  to  unnecessary  work,  and 
he  considered  that  it  would  be  entirely  unnecessary 
to  attempt  to  disturb  this  admirable  defence,  so 
he  left  the  road,  marched  his  men  into  the  woods, 
led  them  entirely  around  the  barricades,  and  then, 
after  proceeding  a  considerable  distance,  emerged 
upon  a  wide  plain  which  lay  before  the  town.  Here 
he  found  that  he  would  have  to  fight  his  way  into 
the  city,  and,  probably  much  to  his  surprise,  his 
men  were  presently  charged  by  a  body  of  cavalry. 

Pirates,  as  a  rule,  have  nothing  to  do  with 
horses,  either  in  peace  or  war,  and  the  Governor  of 
the  town  no  doubt  thought  that  when  his  well- 
armed  horsemen  charged  upon  these  men,  accus- 
tomed to  fighting  on  the  decks  of  ships,  and  totally 
unused  to  cavalry  combats,  he  would  soon  scatter 
and  disperse  them.  But  pirates  are  peculiar  fight- 
ers ;  if  they  had  been  attacked  from  above  by  means 
of  balloons,  or  from  below  by  mines  and  explosives, 
they  would  doubtless  have  adapted  their  style  of 
defence  to  the  method  of  attack.  They  always  did 
this,  and  according  to  Esquemeling  they  nearly 
always  got  the  better  of  their  enemies ;  but  we  must 
remember  that  in  cases  where  they  did  not  succeed, 
as  happened  when  they  marched  against  the  town  of 
Nata,  he  says  very  little  about  the  affair  and  ampli- 
fies only  the  accounts  of  their  successes. 

But  the  pirates  routed  the  horsemen,  and,  after 


140     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

a  fight  of  about  four  hours,  they  routed  all  the 
other  Spaniards  who  resisted  them,  and  took  pos- 
session of  the  town.  Here  they  captured  a  great 
many  prisoners  which  they  shut  up  in  the  churches 
and  then  sent  detachments  out  into  the  country  to 
look  for  those  who  had  run  away.  Then  these 
utterly  debased  and  cruel  men  began  their  usual 
course  after  capturing  a  town  ;  they  pillaged,  feasted, 
and  rioted ;  they  gave  no  thought  to  the  needs  of 
the  prisoners  whom  they  had  shut  up  in  the 
churches,  many  of  whom  starved  to  death ;  they 
tortured  the  poor  people  to  make  them  tell  where 
they  had  hid  their  treasures,  and  nothing  was  too 
vile  or  too  wicked  for  them  to  do  if  they  thought 
they  could  profit  by  it.  They  had  come  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  taking  everything  that  the  people 
possessed,  and  until  they  had  forced  from  them  all 
that  was  of  the  slightest  value,  they  were  not  satis- 
fied. Even  when  the  poor  citizens  seemed  to  have 
given  up  everything  they  owned  they  were  informed 
that  if  they  did  not  pay  two  heavy  ransoms,  one  to 
protect  themselves  from  being  carried  away  into 
slavery,  and  one  to  keep  their  town  from  being 
burned,  the  same  punishments  would  be  inflicted 
upon  them. 

For  two  weeks  the  pirates  waited  for  the  unfortu- 
nate citizens  to  go  out  into  the  country  and  find 
some  of  their  townsmen  who   had  escaped  with  a 


A  Pirate  Potentate  I41 

portion  of  their  treasure.  In  those  days  people 
did  not  keep  their  wealth  in  banks  as  they  do  now, 
but  every  man  was  the  custodian  of  most  of  his  own 
possessions,  and  when  they  fled  from  the  visitation 
of  an  enemy  they  took  with  them  everything  of 
value  that  they  could  carry.  If  their  fortunes  had 
been  deposited  in  banks,  it  would  doubtless  have 
been  more  convenient  for  the  pirates. 

Before  the  citizens  returned  Morgan  made  a  dis- 
covery :  a  negro  was  captured  who  carried  letters 
from  the  Governor  of  Santiago,  a  neighboring  city, 
to  some  of  the  citizens  of  Port-au-Prince,  telling 
them  not  to  be  in  too  great  a  hurry  to  pay  the  ran- 
som demanded  by  the  pirates,  because  he  was  com- 
ing with  a  strong  force  to  their  assistance.  When 
Morgan  read  these  letters,  he  changed  his  mind,  and 
thought  it  would  be  a  wise  thing  not  to  stay  in  that 
region  any  longer  than  could  be  helped.  So  he 
decided  not  to  wait  for  the  unfortunate  citizens  to 
collect  the  heavy  ransom  he  demanded,  but  told 
them  that  if  they  would  furnish  him  with  five  hun- 
dred head  of  cattle,  and  also  supply  salt  and  help 
prepare  the  meat  for  shipment,  he  would  make  no 
further  demands  upon  them.  This,  of  course,  the 
citizens  were  glad  enough  to  do,  and  when  the  buc- 
caneers had  carried  to  the  ships  everything  they  had 
stolen,  and  when  the  beef  had  been  put  on  board, 
they  sailed  away. 


142     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Morgan  directed  the  course  of  the  fleet  to  a  small 
island  on  which  he  wished  to  land  in  order  that 
they  might  take  an  account  of  stock  and  divide 
the  profits.  This  the  pirates  always  did  as  soon 
as  possible  after  they  had  concluded  one  of  their 
nefarious  enterprises.  But  his  men  were  not  at  all 
satisfied  with  what  happened  on  the  island.  Mor- 
gan estimated  the  total  value  of  the  booty  to  be 
about  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  when  this  com- 
paratively small  sum  was  divided,  many  of  the  men 
complained  that  it  would  not  give  them  enough  to 
pay  their  debts  in  Jamaica.  They  were  utterly 
astonished  that  after  having  sacked  an  entirely 
fresh  town  they  should  have  so  little,  and  there 
is  no  doubt  that  many  of  them  believed  that  their 
leader  was  a  man  who  carried  on  the  business  of 
piracy  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  himself,  while 
he  gave  his  followers  barely  enough  to  keep  them 
quiet. 

There  was,  however,  another  cause  of  discontent 
among  a  large  body  of  the  men ;  it  appears  that  the 
men  were  very  fond  of  marrow-bones,  and  while 
they  were  yet  at  Port-au-Prince  and  the  prisoners 
were  salting  the  meat  which  was  to  go  on  the  ships, 
the  buccaneers  went  about  among  them  and  took 
the  marrow-bones  which  they  cooked  and  ate  while 
they  were  fresh.  One  of  the  men,  a  Frenchman, 
had  selected  a  very  fine  bone,  and  had  put  it  by 


A  Pirate  Potentate  143 

his  side  while  he  was  preparing  some  other  tidbits, 
when  an  Englishman  came  along,  picked  up  the 
bone,  and  carried  it  away. 

Now  even  in  the  chronicles  of  Mother  Goose  we 
are  told  of  the  intimate  connection  between  Welsh' 
men,  thievery,  and  marrow-bones ;  for 

"  Taffy  was  a  Welshman, 
Taffy  was  a  thief, 
Taffy  came  to  my  house 
And  stole  a  leg  of  beef. 

«*I  went  to  Taffy's  house, 
Taffy  wasn't  home, 
Taffy  went  to  my  house. 
And  stole  a  marrow-bone." 

What  happened  to  Taflfy  we  do  not  know,  but 
Morgan  was  a  Welshman,  Morgan  was  a  thief,  and 
one  of  his  men  had  stolen  a  marrow-bone ;  there- 
fore came  trouble.  The  Frenchman  challenged  the 
Englishman  ;  but  the  latter,  being  a  mean  scoundrel, 
took  advantage  of  his  opponent,  unfairly  stabbed 
him  in  the  back  and  killed  him. 

Now  all  the  Frenchmen  in  the  company  rose  in 
furious  protest,  and  Morgan,  wishing  to  pacify  them, 
had  the  English  assassin  put  in  chains,  and  prom- 
ised that  he  would  take  him  to  Jamaica  and  deliver 
him  to  justice.  But  the  Frenchmen  declined  to  be 
satisfied;  they  had  received  but  very  little  money 


144     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

after  they  had  pillaged  a  rich  town,  and  they  be- 
lieved that  their  English  companions  were  inclined 
to  take  advantage  of  them  in  every  way,  and  conse- 
quently the  greater  part  of  them  banded  together 
and  deliberately  deserted  Morgan,  who  was  obliged 
to  go  back  to  Jamaica  with  not  more  than  half  his 
regular  forces,  doubtless  wishing  that  the  cattle  on 
the  island  of  Cuba  had  been  able  to  get  along  with- 
out marrow-bones. 


Chapter  XVII 

How    Morgan    was    helped    by    Some    Religious 

People 

WHEN  the  Welsh  buccaneer  started  out  on 
another  expedition  his  company  consisted 
entirely  of  Englishmen,  and  was  not  nearly 
so  large  as  it  had  been ;  when  he  announced  to  his 
followers  that  he  intended  to  attack  the  fortified 
town  of  Porto  Bello,  on  the  mainland,  there  was  a 
general  murmuring  among  the  men,  for  Porto 
Bello  was  one  of  the  strongest  towns  possessed  by 
the  Spaniards,  and  the  buccaneers  did  not  believe 
that  their  comparatively  small  force  would  be  able 
to  take  it.  But  Morgan  made  them  a  speech  in 
which  he  endeavored  to  encourage  them  to  follow 
him  in  this  difficult  undertaking.  One  of  his  argu- 
ments was,  that  although  their  numbers  were  small, 
their  hearts  were  large;  but  he  produced  the  great- 
est effect  upon  them  when  he  said  that  as  they  were 
but  a  few,  each  man's  share  of  the  booty  would  be 
much  larger  than  if  it  must  be  divided  among  a 
great  number.  This  touched  the  souls  of  the 
L  145 


146     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

pirates,  and  they  vowed  to  follow  their  leader  where- 
ever  he  might  take  them. 

The  buccaneers  found  Porto  Bello  a  very  hard  nut 
to  crack ;  they  landed  and  marched  upon  the  town, 
which  was  defended  by  several  forts  or  castles. 
Even  when  one  of  these  had  been  taken  by  assault, 
and  after  it  had  been  blown  up  with  all  its  garrison, 
who  had  been  taken  prisoners,  still  the  town  was 
not  intimidated,  and  the  Governor  vowed  he  would 
never  surrender,  but  would  die  fighting  to  the  last. 
The  pirates  raged  like  demons ;  they  shot  down 
every  man  they  could  see  at  the  cannon  or  upon 
the  walls,  and  they  made  desperate  efforts  to  capture 
the  principal  fort,  but  they  did  not  succeed,  and 
after  a  long  time  Morgan  began  to  despair.  The 
garrison  was  strong  and  well  commanded,  and  when- 
ever the  pirates  attempted  to  scale  the  wall  they 
were  shot  down,  while  fire-pots  full  of  powder, 
with  stones  and  other  missiles,  were  hurled  upon 
them. 

At  last  the  wily  Morgan  had  an  idea.  He  set 
his  men  to  work  to  make  some  ladders  high  enough 
to  reach  to  the  top  of  the  walls,  and  wide  enough  to 
allow  three  or  four  men  to  go  up  abreast.  If  he 
could  get  these  properly  set  up,  his  crew  of  desper- 
ate tiger-cats  could  make  a  combined  rush  and  get 
over  the  walls.  But  to  carry  the  ladders  and  place 
them  would  be  almost  impossible,  for  the  men  who 


Morgan  was  helped  by  Religious  People     147 

bore  them  would  surely  be  shot  down  before  they 
could  finish  the  work.  But  it  was  not  Morgan's 
plan  that  his  men  should  carry  these  ladders.  He 
had  captured  some  convents  in  the  suburbs  of  the 
town,  with  a  number  of  nuns  and  monks,  known  as 
"  religious  people,"  and  he  now  ordered  these  poor 
creatures,  the  women  as  well  as  the  men,  to  take  up 
the  ladders  and  place  them  against  the  walls,  be- 
lieving that  the  Spanish  Governor  would  not  allow 
his  soldiers  to  fire  at  these  innocent  persons  whom 
the  pirates  had  forced  to  do  their  will. 

But  the  Governor  was  determined  to  defend 
the  town  no  matter  who  had  to  suffer,  and  so  the 
soldiers  fired  at  the  nuns  and  monks  just  as  though 
they  were  buccaneers  or  any  other  enemies.  The 
"  religious  people  '*  cried  out  in  terror,  and  screamed 
to  their  friends  not  to  fire  upon  them;  but  the  sol- 
diers obeyed  the  commands  of  the  Governor,  while 
the  pirates  were  swearing  terribly  behind  them  and 
threatening  them  with  their  pistols,  and  so  the  poor 
nuns  and  monks  had  to  press  forward,  many  of  them 
dropping  dead  or  wounded.  They  continued  their 
work  until  the  ladders  were  placed,  and  then  over 
the  walls  went  the  pirates,  with  yells  and  howls  of 
triumph,  and  not  long  after  that  the  town  was 
taken.  The  Governor  died,  fighting  in  the  princi- 
pal fort,  and  the  citizens  and  soldiers  all  united  in 
the  most  vigorous  defence ;   but  it  was  of  no  use. 


148     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Each  pirate  seemed  to  have  not  only  nine  lives,  but 
nine  arms,  each  one  wielding  a  cutlass  or  aiming  a 
pistol. 

When  the  fighting  was  over,  the  second  act  in  the 
horrible  drama  took  place  as  usual.  The  pirates 
ate,  drank,  rioted,  and  committed  all  manner  of 
outrages  and  cruelties  upon  the  inhabitants,  closing 
the  performance  with  the  customary  threat  that  if 
the  already  distressed  and  impoverished  inhabitants 
did  not  pay  an  enormous  ransom,  their  town  would 
be  burned. 

Before  the  ransom  was  paid,  the  Governor  of 
Panama  heard  what  was  going  on  at  Porto  Bello, 
and  sent  a  force  to  the  assistance  of  the  town,  but 
this  time  the  buccaneers  did  not  hastily  retreat. 
Morgan  knew  of  a  narrow  defile  through  which 
the  Spanish  forces  must  pass,  and  there  he  posted 
a  number  of  his  men,  who  defended  the  pass  so 
well  that  the  Spaniards  were  obliged  to  retreat. 
This  Governor  must  have  been  a  student  of  military 
science ;  he  was  utterly  astounded  when  he  heard 
that  this  pirate  leader,  with  less  than  four  hundred 
men,  had  captured  the  redoubtable  town  of  Porto 
Bello,  defended  by  a  strong  garrison  and  inhabited 
by  citizens  who  were  brave  and  accustomed  to  fight- 
ing, and,  being  anxious  to  increase  his  knowledge 
of  improved  methods  of  warfare,  he  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  Morgan  "  desiring  him  to  send  him  some 


Morgan  was  helped  by  Religious  People     149 

small  pattern  of  those  arms  wherewith  he  had  taken 
with  such  violence  so  great  a  city."  The  pirate 
leader  received  the  messenger  with  much  courtesy, 
and  sent  to  the  Governor  a  pistol  and  a  few  balls, 
"  desiring  him  to  accept  that  slender  pattern  of  the 
arms  wherewith  he  had  taken  Porto  Bello,  and 
keep  them  for  a  twelvemonth ;  after  which  time  he 
promised  to  come  to  Panama  and  fetch  them  away.** 

This  courteous  correspondence  was  continued  by 
the  Governor  returning  the  pistol  and  balls  with 
thanks,  and  also  sending  Morgan  a  handsome  gold 
ring  with  the  message  that  he  need  not  trouble  him- 
self to  come  to  Panama ;  for,  if  he  did,  he  would 
meet  with  very  different  fortune  from  that  which 
had  come  to  him  at  Porto  Bello. 

Morgan  put  the  ring  on  his  finger  and  postponed 
his  reply,  and,  as  soon  as  the  ransom  was  paid,  he 
put  his  booty  on  board  his  ships  and  departed. 
When  the  spoils  of  Porto  Bello  came  to  be  counted, 
it  was  found  that  they  were  of  great  value,  and  each 
man  received  a  lordly  share. 

When  Captain  Morgan  was  ready  to  set  out  on 
another  expedition,  he  found  plenty  of  pirates  ready 
to  join  him,  and  he  commanded  all  the  ships  and 
men  whom  he  enlisted  to  rendezvous  at  a  place 
called  the  Isle  of  Cows.  A  fine,  large,  English 
ship  had  recently  come  to  Jamaica  from  New  Eng- 
land, and  this  vessel  also  joined  Morgan's  forces  on 


150     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

the  island,  where  the  pirate  leader  took  this  ship  as 
his  own,  being  much  the  best  and  largest  vessel  of 
the  fleet. 

Besides  the  ships  belonging  to  Morgan,  there 
was  in  the  harbor  where  they  were  now  congre- 
gated, a  fine  vessel  belonging  to  some  French  buc- 
caneers, and  Morgan  desired  very  much  that  this 
vessel  should  join  his  fleet,  but  the  French  cher- 
ished hard  feelings  against  the  English,  and  would 
not  join  them. 

Although  Morgan  was  a  brave  man,  his  mean- 
ness was  quite  equal  to  his  courage,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  be  revenged  upon  these  Frenchmen  who 
had  refused  to  give  him  their  aid,  and  therefore 
played  a  malicious  trick  upon  them.  Sometime 
before,  this  French  vessel,  being  out  of  provisions 
when  upon  the  high  seas,  had  met  an  English  ship, 
and  had  taken  from  her  such  supplies  as  it  had 
needed.  The  captain  did  not  pay  for  these,  being 
out  of  money  as  well  as  food,  not  an  uncommon 
thing  among  buccaneers,  but  they  gave  the  English 
notes  of  exchange  payable  in  Jamaica ;  but  as  these 
notes  were  never  honored,  the  people  of  the  English 
ship  had  never  been  paid  for  their  provisions. 

This  affair  properly  arranged  in  Morgan*s  mind, 
he  sent  a  very  polite  note  to  the  captain  of  the 
French  ship  and  some  of  his  officers,  inviting  them 
to  dine  with  him  on  his  own  vessel.     The  French 


Morgan  was  helped  by  Religious  People     151 

accepted  the  invitation,  but  when  Morgan  received 
them  on  board  his  ship  he  did  not  conduct  them 
down  to  dinner;  instead  of  that,  he  began  to  up- 
braid them  for  the  manner  in  which  they  had  treated 
an  English  crew,  and  then  he  ordered  them  to  be 
taken  down  below  and  imprisoned  in  the  hold. 
Having  accomplished  this,  and  feeling  greatly  elated 
by  this  piece  of  sly  vengeance,  he  went  into  his 
fine  cabin,  and  he  and  his  officers  sat  down  to  the 
grand  feast  he  had  prepared. 

There  were  fine  times  on  board  this  great  English 
ship ;  the  pirates  were  about  to  set  forth  on  an  im- 
portant expedition,  and  they  celebrated  the  occasion 
by  eating  and  drinking,  firing  guns,  and  all  manner 
of  riotous  hilarity.  In  the  midst  of  the  wild  fes- 
tivities —  and  nobody  knew  how  it  happened  —  a 
spark  of  fire  got  into  the  powder  magazine,  and 
the  ship  blew  up,  sending  the  lifeless  bodies  of  three 
hundred  English  sailors,  and  the  French  prisoners, 
high  into  the  air.  The  only  persons  on  board  who 
escaped  were  Morgan  and  his  officers  who  were  in 
the  cabin  close  to  the  stern  of  the  vessel,  at  some 
distance  from  the  magazine. 

This  terrible  accident  threw  the  pirate  fleet  into 
great  confusion  for  a  time  ;  but  Morgan  soon  recov- 
ered himself,  and,  casting  about  to  see  what  was  the 
best  thing  to  be  done,  it  came  into  his  head  that  he 
would  act  the  part  of  the  wolf  in  the  fable  of  the 


152     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

wolf  and  the  lamb.  As  there  was  no  way  of  finding 
out  how  the  magazine  happened  to  explode,  he  took 
the  ground  that  the  French  prisoners  whom  he  had 
shut  up  in  the  hold,  had  thrown  a  lighted  match 
into  the  magazine,  wishing  thus  to  revenge  them- 
selves even  though  they  should,  at  the  same  time, 
lose  their  own  lives.  The  people  of  the  French 
ship  bitterly  opposed  any  such  view  of  the  case, 
but  their  protestations  were  of  no  use;  they  might 
declare  as  much  as  they  pleased  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble for  them  to  make  the  waters  muddy,  being 
lower  down  in  the  stream  than  the  wolfish  pirate 
who  was  accusing  them,  but  it  availed  nothing. 
Morgan  sprang  upon  them  and  their  ship,  and  sent 
them  to  Jamaica,  where,  upon  his  false  charge,  they 
were  shut  up  in  prison,  and  so  remained  for  a  long 
time. 

Such  atrocious  wickedness  as  the  treatment  of  the 
nuns  and  monks,  described  in  this  chapter,  would 
never  have  been  countenanced  in  any  warfare  be- 
tween civilized  nations.  But  Morgan's  pirates  were 
not  making  war ;  they  were  robbers  and  murderers 
on  a  grand  scale.  They  had  no  right  to  call  them- 
selves civilized ;  they  were  worse  than  barbarians. 


Chapter  XVIII 
A  Piratical  Aftermath 

MORGAN'S  destination  was  the  isle  of 
Savona,  near  which  a  great  Spanish  fleet 
was  expected  to  pass,  and  here  he  hoped 
to  make  some  rich  prizes.  But  when  he  got  out 
to  sea  he  met  with  contrary  and  dangerous  winds, 
which  delayed  him  a  long  time,  and  eventually  when 
he  arrived  at  Savona,  after  having  landed  at  various 
places,  where  he  pillaged,  murdered,  and  burned, 
according  to  the  extent  of  his  opportunities,  he 
found  at  least  one-half  of  his  men  and  ships  had  not 
arrived.  With  the  small  force  which  he  now  had 
with  him  he  could  not  set  out  to  attack  a  Spanish 
fleet,  and  therefore  he  was  glad  to  accept  the  sugges- 
tion made  to  him  by  a  Frenchman  who  happened 
to  be  in  his  company. 

This  man  had  been  with  L'Olonnois  two  years 
before  when  that  bloody  pirate  had  sacked  the  towns 
of  Maracaibo  and  Gibraltar ;  he  had  made  himself 
perfectly  familiar  with  the  fortifications  and  defences 
of  these  towns,  and  he  told  Morgan  that  it  would 

153 


154     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

be  easy  to  take  them.  To  be  sure  they  had  been 
thoroughly  sacked  before,  and  therefore  did  not  offer 
the  tempting  inducements  of  perfectly  fresh  towns, 
such  as  Port-au-Prince,  but  still  in  two  ^"^ears  the 
inhabitants  must  have  gathered  together  some  pos- 
sessions desirable  to  pirates,  and  therefore,  although 
Morgan  could  not  go  to  these  towns  with  the 
expectation  of  reaping  a  full  harvest,  he  might  at 
least  gather  up  an  aftermath  which  would  pay  him 
for  his  trouble. 

So  away  sailed  this  horde  of  ravenous  scoundrels 
for  the  lake  of  Maracaibo,  at  the  outer  end  of  which 
lay  the  town  of  Maracaibo,  and  at  the  other  ex- 
tremity the  town  of  Gibraltar.  When  they  had 
sailed  near  enough  to  the  fortifications  they  anchored 
out  of  sight  of  the  watch-tower  and,  landing  in  the 
night,  marched  on  one  of  the  forts.  Here  the 
career  of  Morgan  came  very  near  closing  forever. 
The  Spaniards  had  discovered  the  approach  of  the 
pirates,  and  this  fort  had  been  converted  into  a 
great  trap  in  which  the  citizens  hoped  to  capture 
and  destroy  the  pirate  leader  and  his  men.  Every- 
body had  left  the  fort,  the  gates  were  open,  and  a 
slow-match,  communicating  with  the  magazine, 
had  been  lighted  just  before  the  last  Spaniard 
had  left. 

But  the  oldest  and  most  sagacious  of  rats  would 
be  no  more  difficult   to  entrap  than  was  the  wily 


A  Piratical  Aftermath  155 

pirate  Morgan.  When  he  entered  the  open  gates 
of  the  fort  and  found  everything  in  perfect  order,  he 
suspected  a  trick,  and  looking  about  him  he  soon 
saw  the  smouldering  match.  Instantly  he  made  a 
dash  at  it,  seized  it  and  extinguished  the  fire.  Had 
he  been  delayed  in  this  discovery  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  longer,  he  and  his  men  would  have  been  blown 
to  pieces  along  with  the  fort. 

Now  the  pirates  pressed  on  toward  the  town,  but 
they  met  with  no  resistance.  The  Spaniards,  having 
failed  to  blow  up  their  dreaded  enemies,  had  retreated 
into  the  surrounding  country  and  had  left  the  town. 
The  triumphant  pirates  spread  themselves  every- 
where. They  searched  the  abandoned  town  for 
people  and  valuables,  and  every  man  who  cared  to 
do  so  took  one  of  the  empty  houses  for  his  private 
residence.  They  made  the  church  the  common 
meeting-place  where  they  might  all  gather  together 
when  it  was  necessary,  and  when  they  had  spent  the 
night  in  eating  and  drinking  all  the  good  things 
they  could  find,  they  set  out  the  next  day  to  hunt 
for  the  fugitive  citizens. 

For  three  weeks  Morgan  and  his  men  held  a 
deviFs  carnival  in  Maracaibo.  To  tell  of  the  abom- 
inable tortures  and  cruelties  which  they  inflicted 
upon  the  poor  people,  whom  they  dragged  from 
their  hiding-places  in  the  surrounding  country, 
would  make  our  flesh  creep  and  our  blood  run  cold. 


156     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

When  they  could  do  no  more  evil  they  sailed  away 
up  the  lake  for  Gibraltar. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  tell  the  story  of  the  taking 
of  this  town.  When  Morgan  arrived  there  he 
found  it  also  entirely  deserted.  The  awful  dread  of 
the  human  beasts  who  were  coming  upon  them  had 
forced  the  inhabitants  to  fly.  In  the  whole  town 
only  one  man  was  left,  and  he  was  an  idiot  who  had 
not  sense  enough  to  run  away.  This  poor  fellow 
was  tortured  to  tell  where  his  treasures  were  hid, 
and  when  he  consented  to  take  them  to  the  place 
where  he  had  concealed  his  possessions,  they  found 
a  few  broken  earthen  dishes,  and  a  little  bit  of 
money,  about  as  much  as  a  poor  imbecile  might  be 
supposed  to  possess.  Thereupon  the  disappointed 
fiends  cruelly  killed  him. 

For  five  weeks  the  country  surrounding  Gibraltar 
was  the  scene  of  a  series  of  diabolical  horrors.  The 
pirates  undertook  the  most  hazardous  and  difficult 
expeditions  in  order  to  find  the  people  who  had  hid- 
den themselves  on  islands  and  in  the  mountains,  and 
although  they  obtained  a  great  deal  of  booty,  they 
met  with  a  good  many  misfortunes.  Some  of  them 
were  drowned  in  swollen  streams,  and  others  lost 
much  of  their  pillage  by  rains  and  storms. 

At  last,  after  having  closed  his  vile  proceedings 
in  the  ordinary  pirate  fashion,  by  threatening  to 
burn  the  town  if  he  were  not  paid  a  ransom,  Morgan 


A  Piratical  Aftermath  157 

thought  it  time  for  him  to  depart,  for  if  the  Span- 
iards should  collect  a  sufficient  force  at  Maracaibo 
to  keep  him  from  getting  out  of  the  lake,  he  would 
indeed  be  caught  in  a  trap.  The  ransom  was  partly- 
paid  and  partly  promised,  and  Morgan  and  his  men 
departed,  carrying  with  them  some  hostages  for  the 
rest  of  the  ransom  due. 

When  Morgan  and  his  fleet  arrived  at  Maracaibo, 
they  found  the  town  still  deserted,  but  they  also 
discovered  that  they  were  caught  in  the  trap  which 
they  had  feared,  out  of  which  they  saw  no  way  of 
escaping.  News  had  been  sent  the  Spanish  forces 
of  the  capture  and  sacking  of  Maracaibo,  and  three 
large  men-of-war  now  lay  in  the  channel  below  the 
town  which  led  from  the  lake  into  the  sea.  And 
more  than  this,  the  castle  which  defended  the  en- 
trance to  the  lake,  and  which  the  pirates  had  found 
empty  when  they  arrived,  was  now  well  manned 
and  supplied  with  a  great  many  cannon,  so  that  for 
once  in  their  lives  these  wicked  buccaneers  were 
almost  discouraged.  Their  little  ships  could  not 
stand  against  the  men-of-war ;  and  in  any  case  they 
could  not  pass  the  castle,  which  was  now  prepared 
to  blow  them  to  pieces  if  they  should  come  near 
enough. 

But  in  the  midst  of  these  disheartening  circum- 
stances, the  pirate  leader  showed  what  an  arrogant, 
blustering  dare-devil  he  was,  for,  instead  of  admitting 


158     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

his  discomfiture  and  trying  to  make  terms  with  the 
Spaniards,  he  sent  a  letter  to  the  admiral  of  the 
ships,  in  which  he  stated  that  if  he  did  not  allow 
him  a  free  passage  out  to  sea  he  would  burn  every 
house  in  Maracaibo.  To  this  insolent  threat,  the 
Spanish  admiral  replied  in  a  long  letter,  in  which 
he  told  Morgan  that  if  he  attempted  to  leave  the 
lake  he  would  fire  upon  his  ships,  and,  if  necessary, 
follow  them  out  to  sea,  until  not  a  stick  of  one  of 
them  should  be  left.  But  in  the  great  magnanimity 
of  his  soul  he  declared  that  he  would  allow  Morgan 
to  sail  away  freely,  provided  he  would  deliver  all  the 
booty  he  had  captured,  together  with  the  prisoners 
and  slaves,  and  promise  to  go  home  and  abandon 
buccaneering  forever.  In  case  he  declined  these 
terms,  the  admiral  declared  he  would  come  up  the 
channel  in  boats  filled  with  his  soldiers  and  put 
every  pirate  to  the  sword. 

When  Morgan  received  this  letter,  he  called  his 
men  together  in  the  public  square  of  the  town,  and 
asked  them  what  they  would  do,  and  when  these 
fellows  heard  that  they  were  asked  to  give  up  all 
their  booty,  they  unanimously  voted  that  they 
would  perish  rather  than  do  such  an  unmanly  thing 
as  that.  So  it  was  agreed  that  they  would  fight 
themselves  out  of  the  lake  of  Maracaibo,  or  stay 
there,  dead  or  alive,  as  the  case  might  be. 


Chapter  XIX 
A  Tight  Place  for  Morgan 

AT  this  important  crisis  again  turned  up  the 
man  with  an  idea.  This  was  an  inventive 
buccaneer,  who  proposed  to  Morgan  that 
they  should  take  a  medium-sized  ship  which  they 
had  captured  at  the  other  end  of  the  lake,  and 
make  a  fire-ship  of  her.  In  order  that  the  Span- 
iards might  not  suspect  the  character  of  this  incen- 
diary craft,  he  proposed  that  they  should  fit  her  up 
like  one  of  the  pirate  war-vessels,  for  in  this  case 
the  Spaniards  would  not  try  to  get  away  from  her, 
but  would  be  glad  to  have  her  come  near  enough 
for  them  to  capture  her. 

Morgan  was  pleased  with  this  plan,  and  the  fire- 
ship  was  prepared  with  all  haste.  All  the  pitch, 
tar,  and  brimstone  in  the  town  were  put  on  board 
of  her,  together  with  other  combustibles.  On  the 
deck  were  placed  logs  of  wood,  which  were  dressed 
up  in  coats  and  hats  to  look  like  men,  and  by  their 
sides  were  muskets  and  cutlasses.  Portholes  were 
made,  and  in  these  were  placed  other  logs  to  repre- 

159 


i6o     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

sent  cannon.  Thus  this  merchant  vessel,  now  as 
inflammable  as  a  pine  knot,  was  made  to  resemble 
a  somewhat  formidable  pirate  ship.  The  rest  of 
the  fleet  was  made  ready,  the  valuables  and  prison- 
ers and  slaves  were  put  on  board ;  and  they  all 
sailed  boldly  down  toward  the  Spanish  vessels,  the 
fire-ship  in  front. 

When  the  Spanish  admiral  saw  this  insignificant 
fleet  approaching,  he  made  ready  to  sink  it  to  the 
bottom,  and  when  the  leading  vessel  made  its  way 
directly  toward  his  own  ship,  as  if  with  the  impu- 
dent intention  of  boarding  her,  he  did  not  fire  at  her, 
but  let  her  come  on.  The  few  pirates  on  board  the 
fire-ship  ran  her  up  against  the  side  of  the  great 
man-of-war;  and  after  making  her  fast  and  applying 
their  matches,  they  immediately  slipped  overboard, 
and  swam  to  one  of  their  own  vessels  before  the 
Spaniards  had  an  idea  of  what  had  happened.  The 
fire-ship  was  soon  ablaze,  and  as  the  flames  quickly 
spread,  the  large  vessel  took  fire,  and  the  people  on 
board  had  scarcely  time  to  get  out  of  her  before  she 
sank. 

The  commander  of  one  of  the  other  ships  was  so 
much  frightened  by  what  had  occurred  in  so  short 
a  space  of  time  that  he  ran  his  vessel  aground  and 
wrecked  her,  her  men  jumping  out  into  the  water 
and  making  for  the  land.  As  for  the  other  ship, 
the  pirates  boldly  attacked  her  and  captured  her, 


A  Tight  Place  for  Morgan  i6i 

and  as  she  was  a  very  fine  vessel,  Morgan  left  his 
own  small  vessel,  in  which  he  had  been  command- 
ing his  fleet,  and  took  possession  of  her.  Thus,  in 
a  very  short  time,  the  whole  state  of  affairs  was 
changed.  The  Spaniards  had  no  ships  at  all,  and 
Morgan  was  in  command  of  a  very  fine  vessel,  in 
which  he  led  his  triumphant  fleet. 

Victory  is  a  grand  thing  to  a  pirate  as  it  is  to 
every  human  being  who  has  been  engaged  in  a  con- 
flict, but  none  of  the  joys  of  triumph  could  equal 
the  sordid  rapacity  of  Morgan  and  his  men.  They 
spent  days  in  trying  to  recover  the  money  and  plate 
which  were  on  board  the  sunken  Spanish  ships. 
The  sterns  of  these  projected  above  water,  and  a 
great  deal  of  valuable  treasure  was  recovered  from 
them.  The  pirates  worked  very  hard  at  this, 
although  they  had  not  the  slightest  idea  how  they 
were  to  pass  the  castle  and  get  away  with  the 
plunder  after  they  had  obtained  it. 

When  the  wrecks  had  been  stripped  of  everything 
of  value,  the  time  came  for  demanding  a  ransom  for 
not  burning  the  town  and  hanging  the  prisoners, 
and  as  the  poor  citizens  knew  very  well  what  they 
might  expect,  they  sent  word  to  the  admiral,  who 
had  escaped  to  the  castle,  begging  him  to  accede  to 
the  demands  of  Morgan,  and  to  let  the  wretched 
pirates  go.  But  the  admiral,  Don  Alonso,  was  a 
thoroughbred  Spaniard,  and  he  would  listen  to  no 


1 62     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

such  cowardly  suggestion.  He  would  consent  to 
no  ransom  being  paid,  and  on  no  account  would  he 
allow  the  pirates  to  pass  the  channel.  The  citizens, 
however,  who  knew  what  was  good  for  them,  raised 
the  money,  and  paid  the  ransom  in  coin  and  cattle, 
and  Morgan  declared  that  if  the  admiral  would  not 
let  him  out  of  the  lake,  he  would  have  to  attend  to 
that  matter  himself 

But  before  he  made  another  bold  stroke  against 
the  enemy  his  stingy  and  niggardly  spirit  urged 
him  to  defend  ^himself  against  his  friends,  and  be- 
fore endeavoring  to  leave  he  ordered  a  division  of 
the  spoils.  Many  of  the  goods  taken  from  the  two 
towns  were  on  board  the  different  vessels  of  the 
fleet,  and  he  was  very  much  afraid  that  if  his  com- 
rades, who  commanded  the  other  ships,  should  be 
so  fortunate  as  to  get  out  to  sea,  they  would  sail 
away  with  the  booty  they  carried,  and  he  would  not 
see  any  of  it.  Therefore,  the  booty  from  every 
ship  was  brought  on  board  his  own  fine  vessel,  and 
every  man  was  put  through  an  examination  as  rigid 
as  if  he  had  been  passing  a  custom  house,  and  was 
obliged  to  prove  that  he  had  not  concealed  or  kept 
back  any  money  or  jewels.  The  value  of  the  plun- 
der was  very  great,  and  when  it  had  been  divided, 
according  to  the  scale  which  Morgan  had  adopted, 
the  pirate  leader  felt  safe.  He  now  had  his 
share   of  the   prizes   in    his    own   possession,   and 


A  Tight  Place  for  Morgan  163 

that  to  him  was  more  important  than  anything  else 
in  the  world. 

The  question  of  getting  away  was  a  very  serious 
one ;  the  greater  part  of  his  fleet  consisted  of  small 
vessels  which  could  not  defy  the  guns  of  the  fort, 
and  as  the  stout  hearts  and  brawny  arms  of  his  fol- 
lowers could  be  of  no  use  to  him  in  this  dilemma, 
Morgan  was  obliged  to  fall  back  upon  his  own 
brains ;  therefore,  he  planned  a  trick. 

When  everything  had  been  prepared  for  depart- 
ure, Morgan  anchored  his  fleet  at  a  distance  from 
the  castle,  but  not  so  far  away  that  the  Spaniards 
could  not  observe  his  movements.  Then  he  loaded 
some  boats  with  armed  men  and  had  them  rowed 
ashore  on  the  side  of  the  channel  on  which  the 
castle  stood.  The  boats  landed  behind  a  little 
wood,  and  there  the  men,  instead  of  getting  out, 
crouched  themselves  down  in  the  bottom  of  the 
boats  so  that  they  should  not  be  seen.  Then 
the  boats,  apparently  empty,  were  rowed  back  to 
the  pirate  ships,  and  in  a  short  time,  again  full  of 
men  sitting  upright,  with  their  muskets  and  cut- 
lasses, they  went  to  the  shore,  and  soon  afterwards 
returned  apparently  empty  as  before. 

This  performance  was  repeated  over  and  over 
again,  until  the  people  in  the  castle  were  convinced 
that  Morgan  was  putting  his  men  on  shore  in  order 
to  make  a  land  attack  upon  the  rear  of  the  castle 


164     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

during  the  night.  But  the  Spanish  admiral  was 
not  to  be  caught  by  any  such  clumsy  stratagem  as 
that,  and,  therefore,  in  great  haste  he  had  his  big 
cannon  moved  to  the  land  side  of  the  fort,  and 
posted  there  the  greater  part  of  his  garrison  in 
order  that  when  the  pirates  made  their  assault  in 
the  dead  of  the  night  they  would  meet  with  a  recep- 
tion for  which  they  had  not  bargained. 

When  it  was  dark,  and  the  tide  began  to  run 
out,  the  pirate  vessels  weighed  anchor,  and  they 
all  drifted  down  toward  the  castle.  Morgan's  spies 
had  perceived  some  of  the  extraordinary  movements 
in  the  Spanish  fortifications,  and  he  therefore  drifted 
down  with  a  good  deal  of  confidence,  although,  had 
his  trick  been  discovered  in  time  it  would  have  gone 
very  hard  with  his  fleet.  It  is  probable  that  he  had 
taken  all  these  chances  into  consideration  and  had 
felt  pretty  sure  that  if  the  cannon  of  the  fort  had 
been  opened  upon  them  it  would  not  have  been  the 
big  ship  which  carried  him  and  his  precious  load 
which  would  have  been  sunk  by  the  great  guns,  and 
that  no  matter  what  happened  to  the  smaller  vessels 
and  the  men  on  board  them,  he  and  his  own  ship 
would  be  able  to  sail  away. 

But  the  Spaniards  did  not  perceive  the  approach 
of  the  drifting  fleet,  for  they  were  intrepidly  waiting 
at  the  back  of  the  castle  to  make  it  very  hot  for  the 
pirates  when  they  should  arrive.     Slowly  past  the 


A  Tight  Place  for  Morgan  165 

great  walls  of  the  fort  drifted  the  fleet  of  buccaneers, 
and  then,  at  a  signal,  every  vessel  hoisted  its  sails, 
and,  with  a  good  wind,  sailed  rapidly  toward  the 
open  sea.  The  last  pirate  vessel  had  scarcely  passed 
the  fort  when  the  Spaniards  discovered  what  was 
going  on,  and  in  great  haste  they  rolled  their  can- 
non back  to  the  water  side  of  the  fort  and  began 
firing  furiously,  but  it  was  of  no  use. 

The  pirates  sailed  on  until  they  were  out  of  dan- 
ger, and  then  they  anchored  and  arranged  for  putting 
on  shore  the  greater  number  of  their  prisoners,  who 
were  only  an  encumbrance  to  them.  As  a  parting 
insult,  Morgan  fired  seven  or  eight  of  his  largest 
guns  at  the  castle,  whose  humiliated  occupants  did 
not  reply  by  a  single  shot. 

In  order  to  understand  what  thoroughly  con- 
temptible scoundrels  these  pirates  were  it  may  be 
stated  that  when  Morgan  and  his  men  reached 
Jamaica  after  a  good  deal  of  storm  and  trouble  on 
the  way,  they  found  there  many  of  their  comrades 
who  had  not  been  able  to  join  them  at  their  rendez- 
vous at  Savona.  These  unfortunate  fellows,  who 
had  not  known  where  Morgan  had  gone  and  were 
unable  to  join  him,  had  endeavored  to  do  some  pi- 
ratical business  of  their  own,  but  had  had  very  little 
luck  and  a  great  many  misfortunes.  Morgan*s  men, 
with  their  pockets  full  of  money,  jeered  and  sneered 
at  their  poor  comrades  who  had  had  such  hard  times. 


1 66     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

and  without  any  thought  of  sharing  with  them  the 
least  portion  of  their  own  vile  gains  they  treated 
them  with  contempt  and  derision. 

The  buccaneer,  Captain  Henry  Morgan,  was 
now  a  very  great  personage,  but  with  his  next  ex- 
pedition, which  was  a  very  important  one,  and  in 
its  extent  resembled  warfare  rather  than  piracy,  we 
shall  have  little  to  do  because  his  exploits  in  this 
case  were  not  performed  on  our  Atlantic  coasts,  but 
over  the  Isthmus,  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

Morgan  raised  a  great  fleet,  carrying  a  little  army 
of  two  thousand  men,  and  with  this  he  made  his 
way  to  the  other  side  of  the  Isthmus  and  attacked 
the  city  of  Panama,  which,  of  course,  he  captured. 
His  terrible  deeds  at  this  place  resembled  those 
which  he  performed  after  the  capture  of  the  smaller 
towns  which  we  have  been  considering,  except  that 
they  were  on  a  scale  of  greater  magnitude.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  the  town  of  Panama  was  burned,  and 
the  excesses,  cruelties,  and  pillages  of  the  conquerors 
were  something  almost  without  parallel. 

Before  marching  overland  to  Panama,  Morgan 
had  recaptured  the  island  of  St.  Catherine,  which 
was  a  very  valuable  station  for  his  purposes,  and 
had  also  taken  the  castle  of  Chagres  on  the  mainland 
near  by,  and  on  his  return  from  the  conquest  and 
pillage  of  the  unfortunate  city  he  and  his  forces 
gathered  together  at  Chagres  in  order  to  divide  the 
spoils. 


A  Tight  Place  for  Morgan  167 

Now  came  great  trouble  and  dissatisfaction ; 
many  of  the  buccaneers  loudly  declared  that  Morgan 
was  taking  everything  that  was  really  valuable  for  his 
own,  especially  the  precious  stones  and  jewels,  and 
that  they  were  getting  a  very  small  share  of  the 
booty  of  Panama.  There  seemed  to  be  good  reason 
for  these  complaints,  for  the  sum  of  about  two  hun- 
dred dollars  apiece  was  all  that  Morgan's  men  re- 
ceived after  their  terrible  hardships  and  dangers  and 
the  pillage  of  a  very  rich  town.  The  murmurings 
and  complaints  against  Morgan's  peculiar  methods 
became  louder  and  more  frequent,  and  at  last  the 
wily  Welshman  began  to  be  afraid  that  serious 
trouble  would  come  to  him  if  he  did  not  take  care 
of  himself.  This,  however,  he  was  very  capable  of 
doing.  Silently  and  quietly  one  night,  without 
giving  notice  to  any  of  the  buccaneers  at  Chagres, 
except  a  few  who  were  in  his  secret,  Morgan,  in  his 
large  ship,  sailed  away  for  Jamaica,  followed  by 
only  a  few  other  vessels,  containing  some  of  his 
favored  companions. 

When  the  great  body  of  the  buccaneers,  the  prin- 
cipal portion  of  which  were  Frenchmen,  found  that 
their  leader  had  deserted  them,  there  was  a  grand 
commotion,  and  if  they  had  been  able,  the  furious 
men  who  had  had  this  trick  played  upon  them, 
would  have  followed  Morgan  to  treat  him  as  they 
had  so  often  treated  the  Spaniards.     But  they  could 


1 68     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

not  follow —  Morgan  had  taken  great  care  that  this 
should  not  happen.  Their  ships  were  out  of  order ; 
they  had  been  left  very  short  of  provisions  and  am- 
munition, and  found  that  not  only  were  they  unable 
to  avenge  themselves  on  their  traitor  leader,  but 
that  it  would  be  very  hard  for  them  to  get  away  at  all. 

Poor  Esquemeling,  the  literary  pirate,  was  one  of 
those  who  was  left  behind,  and  in  his  doleful  state 
he  made  the  following  reflection,  which  we  quote 
from  his  book:  "Captain  Morgan  left  us  all  in  such 
a  miserable  condition  as  might  serve  for  a  lively 
representation  of  what  rewards  attend  wickedness  at 
the  latter  end  of  life.  Whence  we  ought  to  have 
learned  how  to  regulate  and  amend  our  actions  for 
the  future." 

After  Morgan  had  safely  reached  Jamaica  with 
all  his  booty,  the  idea  renewed  itself  in  his  mind  of 
returning  to  St.  Catherine,  fortifying  the  place  and 
putting  it  in  complete  order,  and  then  occupying  it 
as  a  station  for  all  pirates,  with  himself  the  supreme 
governor  and  king  of  the  buccaneers.  But  before 
he  had  completed  his  arrangements  for  doing  this 
there  was  a  change  in  the  affairs  at  Jamaica :  the 
king  of  England,  having  listened  to  the  com- 
plaints of  the  Spanish  crown,  had  recalled  the  for- 
mer Governor  and  put  him  on  trial  to  answer  for 
the  manner  in  which  he  allowed  the  island  to  be 
used  by  the  pirates  for  their  wicked  purposes  against 


A  Tight  Place  for  Morgan  169 

a  friendly  nation,  and  had  sent  a  new  Governor 
with  orders  to  allow  no  buccaneers  in  Jamaica,  and 
in  every  way  to  suppress  piracy  in  those  parts. 

Now  the  shrewd  Morgan  saw  that  his  present 
business  was  likely  to  become  a  very  undesirable 
one,  and  he  accordingly  determined  to  give  it  up. 
Having  brutally  pillaged  and  most  cruelly  treated 
the  Spaniards  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  do  so,  and 
having  cheated  and  defrauded  his  friends  and  com- 
panions to  the  utmost  extent  possible,  he  made  up 
his  mind  to  reform,  and  a  more  thoroughly  base 
and  contemptible  reformed  scoundrel  was  never 
seen  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Morgan  was  now  a  rich  man,  and  he  lost  no  time 
in  becoming  very  respectable.  He  endeavored  to 
win  favor  with  the  new  Governor,  and  was  so  suc- 
cessful that  when  that  official  was  obliged  to  return 
to  England  on  account  of  his  health,  he  left  the 
ex-pirate  in  charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  island  in 
the  capacity  of  Deputy-Governor.  More  than  this. 
King  Charles,  who  apparently  had  heard  of  Mor- 
gan's great  bravery  and  ability,  and  had  not  cared 
to  listen  to  anything  else  about  him,  knighted  him, 
and  this  preeminent  and  inhuman  water-thief  be- 
came Sir  Henry  Morgan. 

In  his  new  official  capacity  Morgan  was  very 
severe  upon  his  former  associates,  and  when  any  of 
them  were  captured  and  brought  before  him,  he 


lyo      Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

condemned  some  to  be  imprisoned  and  some  to  be 
hung,  and  in  every  way  apparently  endeavored  to 
break  up  the  unlawful  business  of  buccaneering. 

About  this  time  John  Esquemeling  betook  him- 
self to  Europe  with  all  possible  despatch,  for  he  had 
work  to  do  and  things  to  tell  with  which  the  Deputy- 
Governor  would  have  no  sympathy  whatever.  He 
got  away  safely,  and  he  wrote  his  book,  and  if  he 
had  not  had  this  good  fortune,  the  world  would  have 
lost  a  great  part  of  the  story  of  what  happened  to 
the  soft  little  baby  who  was  born  among  the  quiet 
green  fields  of  Wales. 

Even  during  the  time  that  he  was  Deputy-Gov- 
ernor, Morgan  was  suspected  of  sharing  in  the  gains 
of  some  buccaneers  at  the  same  time  that  he  pun- 
ished others,  and  after  the  death  of  Charles  II.  he 
was  sent  to  England  and  imprisoned,  but  what 
eventually  became  of  him  we  do  not  know.  If  he 
succeeded  in  ill-using  and  defrauding  his  Satanic 
Majesty,  there  is  no  record  of  the  fact. 


Chapter  XX        i 
The  Story  of  a  High -Minded,  Pirate 

AFTER  having  considered  the  extraordinary 
performances  of  so  many  of  those  execrable 
^  wretches,  the  buccaneers,  it  is  refreshing 
and  satisfactory  to  find  that  there  were  exceptions 
even  to  the  rules  which  governed  the  conduct  and 
general  make-up  of  the  ordinary  pirate  of  the  period, 
and  we  are  therefore  glad  enough  to  tell  the  story  of 
a  man,  who,  although  he  was  an  out-and-out  buc- 
caneer, possessed  some  peculiar  characteristics  which 
give  him  a  place  of  his  own  in  the  history  of  piracy. 

In  the  early  part  of  these  sketches  we  have  alluded 
to  a  gentleman  of  France,  who,  having  become 
deeply  involved  in  debt,  could  see  no  way  of  putting 
himself  in  a  condition  to  pay  his  creditors  but  to  go 
into  business  of  some  kind.  He  had  no  mercantile 
education,  he  had  not  learned  any  profession,  and  it 
was  therefore  necessary  for  him  to  do  something  for 
which  a  previous  preparation  was  not  absolutely 
essential. 

After  having  carefully  considered  all  the  methods 

171 


172     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

of  making  money  which  were  open  to  him  under  the 
circumstances,  he  finally  concluded  to  take  up  piracy 
and  literature.  Even  at  the  present  day  it  is  con- 
sidered by  many  persons  that  one  of  these  branches 
of  industry  is  a  field  of  action  especially  adapted  to 
those  who  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of  giving 
the  time  and  study  necessary  in  any  other  method 
of  making  a  living. 

The  French  gentleman  whose  adventures  we  are 
about  to  relate  was  a  very  different  man  from  John 
Esquemeling,  who  was  a  literary  pirate  and  nothing 
more.  Being  of  a  clerkly  disposition,  the  gentle 
John  did  not  pretend  to  use  the  sabre  or  the  pistol. 
His  part  in  life  was  simply  to  watch  his  companions 
fight,  burn,  and  steal,  while  his  only  weapon  was  his 
pen,  with  which  he  set  down  their  exploits  and 
thereby  murdered  their  reputations. 

But  Monsieur  Raveneau  de  Lussan  was  both 
buccaneer  and  author,  and  when  he  had  finished  his 
piratical  career  he  wrote  a  book  in  which  he  gave  a 
full  account  of  it,  thus  showing  that  although  he  had 
not  been  brought  up  to  a  business  life,  he  had  very 
good  ideas  about  money-making. 

More  than  that,  he  had  very  good  ideas  about 
his  own  reputation,  and  instead  of  leaving  his  exploits 
and  adventures  to  be  written  up  by  other  people,  — 
that  is,  if  any  one  should  think  it  worth  while  to  do 
so,  —  he  took  that  business  into  his  own  hands. 


The  Story  of  a  HIgh-Minded  Pirate      173 

He  was  well  educated,  he  had  been  brought  up  in  good 
society,  and  as  he  desired  to  return  to  that  society 
it  was  natural  for  him  to  wish  to  paint  his  own  por- 
trait as  a  buccaneer.  Pictures  of  that  kind  as  they 
were  ordinarily  executed  were  not  at  all  agreeable  to 
the  eyes  of  the  cultivated  classes  of  France,  and  so 
M.  de  Lussan  determined  to  give  his  personal  at- 
tention not  only  to  his  business  speculations,  but  to 
his  reputation.  He  went  out  as  a  buccaneer  in 
order  to  rob  the  Spaniards  of  treasure  with  which  to 
pay  his  honest  debts,  and,  in  order  to  prevent  his 
piratical  career  being  described  in  the  coarse  and  dis- 
agreeable fashion  in  which  people  generally  wrote 
about  pirates,  he  determined  to  write  his  own  advent- 
ures. 

If  a  man  wishes  to  appear  well  before  the  world, 
it  is  often  a  very  good  thing  for  him  to  write  his 
autobiography,  especially  if  there  is  anything  a  little 
shady  in  his  career,  and  it  may  be  that  de  Lussan's 
reputation  as  a  high-minded  pirate  depends  some- 
what on  the  book  he  wrote  after  he  had  put  down 
the  sword  and  taken  up  the  pen ;  but  if  he  gave  a 
more  pleasing  color  to  his  proceedings  than  they 
really  deserved,  we  ought  to  be  glad  of  it.  For, 
even  if  de  Lussan  the  buccaneer  was  in  some  degree 
a  creature  of  the  imagination  of  de  Lussan  the  author, 
we  have  a  story  which  is  much  more  pleasing  and, 
in  some  respects,  more   romantic  than  stories  of 


174     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

ordinary  pirates  could  possibly  be  made  unless  the 
writer  of  such  stories  abandoned  fact  altogether  and 
plunged  blindly  into  fiction. 

Among  the  good  qualities  of  de  Lussan  was  a 
pious  disposition.  He  had  always  been  a  religious 
person,  and,  being  a  Catholic,  he  had  a  high  regard 
and  veneration  for  religious  buildings,  for  priests, 
and  for  the  services  of  the  church,  and  when  he  had 
crossed  the  Atlantic  in  his  ship,  the  crew  of  which 
was  composed  of  desperadoes  of  various  nations, 
and  when  he  had  landed  upon  the  western  conti- 
nent, he  wished  still  to  conform  to  the  religious 
manners  and  customs  of  the  old  world. 

Having  a  strong  force  under  his  command  and 
possessing,  in  common  with  most  of  the  gentle- 
men of  that  period,  a  good  military  education,  it 
was  not  long  after  he  landed  on  the  mainland  before 
he  captured  a  small  town.  The  resistance  which 
he  met  was  soon  overcome,  and  our  high-minded 
pirate  found  himself  in  the  position  of  a  conqueror 
with  a  community  at  his  mercy.  As  his  piety  now 
raised  itself  above  all  his  other  attributes,  the  first 
thing  that  he  did  was  to  repair  to  the  principal 
church  of  the  town,  accompanied  by  all  his  men, 
and  here,  in  accordanc2  with  his  commands,  a  Te 
Deum  was  sung  and  services  were  conducted  by  the 
priests  in  charge.  Then,  after  having  properly  per- 
formed his  religious  duties,  de  Lussan  sent  his  men 


The  Story  of  a  High- Minded  Pirate      175 

through  the  town  with  orders  to  rob  the  inhabitants 
of  everything  valuable  they  possessed. 

The  ransacking  and  pillaging  of  the  houses  con- 
tinued for  some  time,  but  when  the  last  of  his  men 
had  returned  with  the  booty  they  had  collected, 
the  high-minded  chief  was  dissatisfied.  The  town 
appeared  to  be  a  good  deal  poorer  than  he  had 
expected,  and  as  the  collection  seemed  to  be  so  very 
small,  de  Lussan  concluded  that  in  some  way  or 
other  he  must  pass  around  the  hat  again.  While 
he  was  wondering  how  he  should  do  this  he  hap- 
pened to  hear  that  on  a  sugar  plantation  not  very 
far  away  from  the  town  there  were  some  ladies  of 
rank  who,  having  heard  of  the  approach  of  the 
pirates,  had  taken  refuge  there,  thinking  that  even 
if  the  town  should  be  captured,  their  savage  enemies 
would  not  wander  into  the  country  to  look  for 
spoils  and  victims. 

But  these  ladies  were  greatly  mistaken.  When 
de  Lussan  heard  where  they  were,  he  sent  out  a 
body  of  men  to  make  them  prisoners  and  bring 
them  back  to  him.  They  might  not  have  any 
money  or  jewels  in  their  possession,  but  as  they 
belonged  to  good  families  who  were  probably 
wealthy,  a  good  deal  of  money  could  be  made  out 
of  them  by  holding  them  and  demanding  a  heavy 
ransom  for  their  release.  So  the  ladies  were  all 
brought  to  town  and  shut  up  securely  until  their 


176     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

friends  and  relatives  managed  to  raise  enough  money 
to  pay  their  ransom  and  set  them  free,  and  then,  I 
have  no  doubt,  de  Lussan  advised  them  to  go  to 
church  and  offer  up  thanks  for  their  happy  deliv- 
erance. 

As  our  high-minded  pirate  pursued  his  plunder- 
ing way  along  the  coast  of  South  America,  he  met 
with  a  good  many  things  which  jarred  upon  his  sen- 
sitive nature  —  things  he  had  not  expected  when  he 
started  out  on  his  new  career.  One  of  his  disap- 
pointments was  occasioned  by  the  manners  and  cus- 
toms of  the  English  buccaneers  under  his  command. 
These  were  very  different  from  the  Frenchmen  of 
his  company,  for  they  made  not  the  slightest  pre- 
tence to  piety. 

When  they  had  captured  a  town  or  a  village,  the 
Englishmen  would  go  to  the  churches,  tear  down 
the  paintings,  chop  the  ornaments  from  the  altars 
with  their  cutlasses,  and  steal  the  silver  crucifixes, 
the  candlesticks,  and  even  the  communion  services. 
Such  conduct  gave  great  pain  to  de  Lussan.  To 
rob  and  destroy  the  property  of  churches  was  in  his 
eyes  a  great  sin,  and  he  never  suffered  anything  of 
the  kind  if  he  could  prevent  it.  When  he  found  in 
any  place  which  he  captured  a  wealthy  religious 
community  or  a  richly  furnished  church,  he  scrupu- 
lously refrained  from  taking  anything  or  of  doing 
damage  to  property,  and  contented   himself  with 


The  Story  of  a  High-Minded  Pirate      177 

demanding  heavy  indemnity,  which  the  priests  were 
obliged  to  pay  as  a  return  for  the  pious  exemption 
which  he  granted  them. 

But  it  was  very  difficult  to  control  the  English- 
men. They  would  rob  and  destroy  a  church  as 
willingly  as  if  it  were  the  home  of  a  peaceful  family, 
and  although  their  conscientious  commander  did 
everything  he  could  to  prevent  their  excesses,  he 
did  not  always  succeed.  If  he  had  known  what 
was  likely  to  happen,  his  party  would  have  consisted 
entirely  of  Frenchmen. 

Another  thing  which  disappointed  and  annoyed 
the  gentlemanly  de  Lussan  was  the  estimation  in 
which  the  buccaneers  were  held  by  the  ladies  of  the 
country  through  which  he  was  passing.  He  soon 
found  that  the  women  in  the  Spanish  settlements 
had  the  most  horrible  ideas  regarding  the  members 
of  the  famous  "  Brotherhood  of  the  Coast."  To 
be  sure,  all  the  Spanish  settlers,  and  a  great  part  of 
the  natives  of  the  country,  were  filled  with  horror 
and  dismay  whenever  they  heard  that  a  company 
of  buccaneers  was  within  a  hundred  miles  of  their 
homes,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  this  was  the 
case,  for  the  stories  of  the  atrocities  and  cruelties 
of  these  desperadoes  had  spread  over  the  western 
world. 

But  the  women  of  the  settlements  looked  upon 
the  buccaneers  with  greater  fear  and  abhorrence  than 


178     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

the  men  could  possibly  feel,  for  the  belief  was  almost 
universal  among  them  that  buccaneer^  were  terrible 
monsters  of  cannibal  habits  who  delighted  in  devour- 
ing human  beings,  especially  if  they  happened  to 
be  young  and  tender.  This  ignorance  of  the  true 
character  of  the  invaders  of  the  country  was  greatly 
deplored  by  de  Lussan.  He  had  a  most  profound 
pity  for  those  simple-minded  persons  who  had  al- 
lowed themselves  to  be  so  deceived  in  regard  to  the 
real  character  of  himself  and  his  men,  and  when- 
ever he  had  an  opportunity,  he  endeavored  to  per- 
suade the  ladies  who  fell  in  his  way  that  sooner 
than  eat  a  woman  he  would  entirely  abstain  from 
food. 

On  one  occasion,  when  politely  conducting  a 
young  lady  to  a  place  of  confinement,  where  in 
company  with  other  women  of  good  family  she  was 
to  be  shut  up  until  their  relatives  could  pay  hand- 
some ransoms  for  their  release,  he  was  very  much 
surprised  when  she  suddenly  turned  to  him  with 
tears  in  her  eyes,  and  besought  him  not  to  devour 
her.  This  astonishing  speech  so  wounded  the  feel- 
ings of  the  gallant  Frenchman  that  for  a  moment 
he  could  not  reply,  and  when  he  asked  her  what 
had  put  such  an  unreasonable  fear  in  her  mind, 
she  could  only  answer  that  she  thought  he  looked 
hungry,  and  that  perhaps  he  would  not  be  willing  to 
wait  until  —     And  there  she  stopped,  for  she  could 


The  Story  of  a  High-Minded  Pirate      179 

not  bring  her  mind  to  say  —  until  she  was  properly 
prepared  for  the  table. 

"What!"  exclaimed  the  high-minded  pirate. 
"  Do  you  suppose  that  I  would  eat  you  in  the 
street  ?  "  And  as  the  poor  girl,  who  was  now  cry- 
ing, would  make  him  no  answer,  he  fell  into  a 
sombre  silence  which  continued  until  they  had 
reached  their  destination. 

The  cruel  aspersions  which  were  cast  upon  his 
character  by  the  women  of  the  country  were  very 
galling  to  the  chivalrous  soul  of  this  gentleman  of 
France,  and  in  every  way  possible  he  endeavored  to 
show  the  Spanish  ladies  that  their  opinions  of  him 
were  entirely  incorrect,  and  even  if  his  men  were 
rather  a  hard  lot  of  fellows,  they  were  not  cannibals. 

The  high-minded  pirate  had  now  two  principal 
objects  before  him.  One  was  to  lay  his  hand  upon 
all  the  treasure  he  could  find,  and  the  other  was  to 
show  the  people  of  the  country,  especially  the  ladies, 
that  he  was  a  gentleman  of  agreeable  manners  and 
a  pious  turn  of  mind. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  for  some  time  the  hero 
of  this  story  did  not  succeed  in  his  first  object  as 
well  as  he  would  have  liked.  A  great  deal  of  treas- 
ure was  secured,  but  some  of  it  consisted  of  prop- 
erty which  could  not  be  easily  turned  into  cash 
or  carried  away,  and  he  had  with  him  a  body  of 
rapacious  and  conscienceless   scoundrels  who  were 


i^     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

continually  clamoring  for  as  large  a  share  of  the 
available  spoils  —  such  as  jewels,  money,  and  small 
articles  of  value  —  as  they  could  induce  their  com- 
mander to  allow  them,  and,  in  consequence  of  this 
greediness  of  his  own  men,  his  share  of  the  plunder 
was  not  always  as  large  as  it  ought  to  be. 

But  in  his  other  object  he  was  very  much  more 
successful,  and,  in  proof  of  this,  we  have  only  to  re- 
late an  interesting  and  remarkable  adventure  which 
befell  him.  He  laid  siege  to  a  large  town,  and,  as 
the  place  was  well  defended  by  fortifications  and 
armed  men,  a  severe  battle  took  place  before  it  was 
captured.  But  at  last  the  town  was  taken,  and 
de  Lussan  and  his  men  having  gone  to  church  to 
give  thanks  for  their  victory,  —  his  Englishmen 
being  obliged  to  attend  the  services  no  matter  what 
they  did  afterward,  —  he  went  diligently  to  work  to 
gather  from  the  citizens  their  valuable  and  available 
possessions.  In  this  way  he  was  brought  into  per- 
sonal contact  with  a  great  many  of  the  people  of  the 
town,  and  among  the  acquaintances  which  he  made 
was  that  of  a  young  Spanish  lady  of  great  beauty. 

The  conditions  and  circumstances  in  the  midst  of 
which  this  lady  found  herself  after  the  city  had  been 
taken,  were  very  peculiar.  She  had  been  the  wife 
of  one  of  the  principal  citizens,  the  treasurer  of  the 
town,  who  was  possessed  of  a  large  fortune,  and  who 
lived  in  one  of  the  best  houses  in  the  place ;  but 


The  Story  of  a  High-Minded  Pirate      i8i 

during  the  battle  with  the  buccaneers,  her  husband, 
who  fought  bravely  in  defence  of  the  place,  was 
killed,  and  she  now  found  herself  not  only  a  widow, 
but  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  those  ruthless  pirates 
whose  very  name  had  struck  terror  into  the  hearts 
of  the  Spanish  settlers.  Plunged  into  misery  and 
despair,  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  foresee  what  was 
going  to  happen  to  her. 

As  has  been  said,  the  religious  services  in  the 
church  were  immediately  followed  by  the  pillage  of 
the  town ;  every  house  was  visited,  and  the  trem- 
bling inhabitants  were  obliged  to  deliver  up  their 
treasures  to  the  savage  fellows  who  tramped  through 
their  halls  and  rooms,  swearing  savagely  when  they 
did  not  find  as  much  as  they  expected,  and  laughing 
with  wild  glee  at  any  unusual  discovery  of  jewels  or 
coin. 

The  buccaneer  officers  as  well  as  the  men  assisted 
in  gathering  in  the  spoils  of  the  town,  and  it  so 
happened  that  M.  Raveneau  de  Lussan,  with  his 
good  clothes  and  his  jaunty  hat  with  a  feather  in  it, 
selected  the  house  of  the  late  treasurer  of  the  city 
as  a  suitable  place  for  him  to  make  his  investiga- 
tions. He  found  there  a  great  many  valuable 
articles  and  also  found  the  beautiful  young  widow. 

The  effect  produced  upon  the  mind  of  the  lady 
when  the  captain  of  the  buccaneers  entered  her 
house  was  a  very  surprising  one.     Instead  of  be- 


1 82     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

holding  a  savage,  brutal  ruffian,  with  ragged  clothes 
and  gleaming  teeth,  she  saw  a  handsome  gentleman, 
as  well  dressed  as  circumstances  would  permit,  very- 
polite  in  his  manners,  and  with  as  great  a  desire  to 
transact  his  business  without  giving  her  any  more 
inconvenience  than  was  necessary,  as  if  he  had  been 
a  tax-collector  or  had  come  to  examine  the  gas 
meter.  If  all  the  buccaneers  were  such  agreeable 
men  as  this  one,  she  and  her  friends  had  been  labor- 
ing under  a  great  mistake. 

De  Lussan  did  not  complete  his  examination  of 
the  treasurer's  house  in  one  visit,  and  during  the 
next  two  or  three  days  the  young  widow  not  only 
became  acquainted  with  the  character  of  buccaneers 
in  general,  but  she  learned  to  know  this  particular 
buccaneer  very  well,  and  to  find  out  what  an  entirely 
different  man  he  was  from  the  savage  fellows  who 
composed  his  company.  She  was  grateful  to  him 
for  his  kind  manner  of  appropriating  her  posses- 
sions, she  was  greatly  interested  in  his  society,  —  for 
he  was  a  man  of  culture  and  information,  —  and  in 
less  than  three  days  she  found  herself  very  much  in 
love  with  him.  There  was  not  a  man  in  the  whole 
town  who,  in  her  opinion,  could  compare  with  this 
gallant  commander  of  buccaneers. 

It  was  not  very  long  before  de  Lussan  became 
conscious  of  the  favor  he  had  found  in  the  eyes  of 
this  lady ;  for  as  a  buccaneer  could  not  be  expected  to 


The  Story  of  a  High-Minded  Pirate      183 

remain  very  long  in  one  place,  it  was  necessary,  if  this 
lady  wished  the  captor  of  her  money  and  treasure 
to  know  that  he  had  also  captured  her  heart,  that  she 
must  not  be  slow  in  letting  him  know  the  state  of 
her  affections,  and  being  a  young  person  of  a  very 
practical  mind  she  promptly  informed  de  Lussan 
that  she  loved  him  and  desired  him  to  marry  her. 

The  gallant  Frenchman  was  very  much  amazed 
when  this  proposition  was  made  to  him,  which  was 
in  the  highest  degree  complimentary.  It  was  very 
attractive  to  him  —  but  he  could  not  understand 
it.  The  lady's  husband  had  been  dead  but  a  few 
days  —  he  had  assisted  in  having  the  unfortunate 
gentleman  properly  buried  —  and  it  seemed  to  him 
very  unnatural  that  the  young  widow  should  be  in 
such  an  extraordinary  hurry  to  prepare  a  marriage 
feast  before  the  funeral  baked  meats  had  been 
cleared  from  the  table. 

There  was  but  one  way  in  which  he  could  explain 
to  himself  this  remarkable  transition  from  grief  to 
a  new  affection.  He  believed  that  the  people  of 
this  country  were  like  their  fruits  and  their  flowers. 
The  oranges  might  fall  from  the  trees,  but  the 
blossoms  would  still  be  there.  Husband  and  wives 
or  lovers  might  die,  but  in  the  tropical  hearts  of 
these  people  it  was  not  necessary  that  new  affections 
should  be  formed,  for  they  were  already  there,  and 
needed  only  some  one  to  receive  them. 


184     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

As  he  did  not  undertake  his  present  expedition 
for  the  purpose  of  marrying  ladies,  no  matter  how 
beautiful  they  might  be,  it  is  quite  natural  that 
de  Lussan  should  not  accept  the  proffered  hand  of 
the  young  widow.  But  when  she  came  to  detail 
her  plans,  he  found  that  it  would  be  well  worth  his 
while  to  carefully  consider  her  project. 

The  lady  was  by  no  means  a  thoughtless  young 
creature,  carried  away  by  a  sudden  attachment. 
Before  making  known  to  de  Lussan  her  preference 
for  him  above  all  other  men,  she  had  given  the 
subject  her  most  careful  and  earnest  consideration, 
and  had  made  plans  which  in  her  opinion  would 
enable  the  buccaneer  captain  and  herself  to  settle 
the  matter  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties. 

When  de  Lussan  heard  the  lady's  scheme,  he 
was  as  much  surprised  by  her  businesslike  ability 
as  he  had  been  by  the  declaration  of  her  affection 
for  him.  She  knew  very  well  that  he  could  not 
marry  her  and  take  her  with  him.  Moreover,  she 
did  not  wish  to  go.  She  had  no  fancy  for  such 
wild  expeditions  and  such  savage  companions.  Her 
plans  were  for  peace  and  comfort  and  a  happy 
domestic  life.  In  a  word,  she  desired  that  the 
handsome  de  Lussan  should  remain  with  her. 

Of  course  the  gentleman  opened  his  eyes  very 
wide  when  he  heard  this,  but  she  had  a  great  deal 
to  say  upon  the  subject,  and  she  had  not  omitted 


The  Story  of  a  High- Minded  Pirate      185 

any  of  the  details  which  would  be  necessary  for  the 
success  of  her  scheme. 

The  lady  knew  just  as  well  as  the  buccaneer  cap- 
tain knew  that  the  men  under  his  command  would 
not  allow  him  to  remain  comfortably  in  that  town 
with  his  sh^re  of  the  plunder,  while  they  went  on 
without  a  leader  to  undergo  all  sorts  of  hardships 
and  dangers,  perhaps  defeat  and  death.  If  he  an- 
nounced his  intention  of  withdrawing  from  the  band, 
his  enraged  companions  would  probably  kill  him. 
Consequently  a  friendly  separation  between  himself 
and  his  buccaneer  followers  was  a  thing  not  to  be 
thought  of,  and  she  did  not  even  propose  it. 

Her  idea  was  a  very  different  one.  Just  as  soon 
as  possible,  that  very  night,  de  Lussan  was  to  slip 
quietly  out  of  the  town,  and  make  his  way  into  the 
surrounding  country.  She  would  furnish  him  with 
a  horse,  and  tell  him  the  way  he  should  take,  and 
he  was  not  to  stop  until  he  had  reached  a  secluded 
spot,  where  she  was  quite  sure  the  buccaneers  would 
not  be  able  to  find  him,  no  matter  how  diligently 
they  might  search.  When  they  had  entirely  failed 
in  every  effort  to  discover  their  lost  captain,  who 
they  would  probably  suppose  had  been  killed  by 
wandering  Indians,  —  for  it  was  impossible  that  he 
could  have  been  murdered  in  the  town  without 
their  knowledge,  —  they  would  give  him  up  as  lost 
and  press  on  in  search  of  further  adventures. 


1 86     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

When  the  buccaneers  were  far  away,  and  all 
danger  from  their  return  had  entirely  passed,  then 
the  brave  and  polite  Frenchman,  now  no  longer  a 
buccaneer,  could  safely  return  to  the  town,  where 
the  young  widow  would  be  most  happy  to  marry 
him,  to  lodge  him  in  her  handsome  house,  and  to 
make  over  to  him  all  the  large  fortune  and  estates 
which  had  been  the  property  of  her  late  husband. 

This  was  a  very  attractive  offer  surely,  a  beautiful 
woman,  and  a  handsome  fortune.  But  she  offered 
more  than  this.  She  knew  that  a  gentleman  who 
had  once  captured  and  despoiled  the  town  might 
feel  a  little  delicacy  in  regard  to  marrying  and  set- 
tling there  and  becoming  one  of  its  citizens,  and 
therefore  she  was  prepared  to  remove  any  objections 
which  might  be  occasioned  by  such  considerate 
sentiments  on  his  part. 

She  assured  him  that  if  he  would  agree  to  her 
plan,  she  would  use  her  influence  with  the  author- 
ities, and  would  obtain  for  him  the  position  of  city 
treasurer,  which  her  husband  had  formerly  held. 
And  when  he  declared  that  such  an  astounding  per- 
formance must  be  utterly  impossible,  she  started 
out  immediately,  and  having  interviewed  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  town  and  other  municipal  officers, 
secured  their  signature  to  a  paper  in  which  they 
promised  that  if  M.  de  Lussan  would  accept  the 
proposals  which  the  lady  had  made,  he  would  be 


The  Story  of  a  High-Minded  Pirate      187 

received  most  kindly  by  the  officers  and  citizens  of 
the  town ;  that  the  position  of  treasurer  would  be 
given  to  hirn,  and  that  all  the  promises  of  the  lady 
should  be  made  good. 

Now  our  high-minded  pirate  was  thrown  into  a 
great  quandary,  and  although  at  first  he  had  had  no 
notion  whatever  of  accepting  the  pleasant  proposi- 
tion which  had  been  made  to  him  by  the  young 
widow,  he  began  to  see  that  there  were  many  good 
reasons  why  the  affection,  the  high  position,  and  the 
unusual  advantages  which  she  had  offered  to  him 
might  perhaps  be  the  very  best  fortune  which  he 
could  expect  in  this  world.  In  the  first  place,  if  he 
should  marry  this  charming  young  creature  and 
settle  down  as  a  respected  citizen  and  an  officer  of 
the  town,  he  would  be  entirely  freed  from  the  neces- 
sity of  leading  the  life  of  a  buccaneer,  and  this  life 
was  becoming  more  and  more  repugnant  to  him 
every  day,  —  not  only  on  account  of  the  highly 
disagreeable  nature  of  his  associates  and  their  reck- 
less deeds,  but  because  the  country  was  becoming 
aroused,  and  the  resistance  to  his  advances  was 
growing  stronger  and  stronger.  In  the  next  attack 
he  made  upon  a  town  or  village  he  might  receive  a 
musket  ball  in  his  body,  which  would  end  his  career 
and  leave  his  debts  in  France  unpaid. 

More  than  that,  he  was  disappointed,  as  has  been 
said  before,  in  regard  to  the  financial  successes  he 


1 88     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

had  expected.  At  that  time  he  saw  no  immediate 
prospect  of  being  able  to  go  home  with  money 
enough  in  his  pocket  to  pay  off  his  creditors,  and 
if  he  did  not  return  to  his  native  land  under  those 
conditions,  he  did  not  wish  to  return  there  at  all. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  seemed  to  be  wise  and 
prudent,  that  if  he  had  no  reason  to  expect  to  be 
able  to  settle  down  honorably  and  peaceably  in 
France,  to  accept  this  opportunity  to  settle  honor- 
ably, peaceably,  and  in  every  way  satisfactorily  in 
America. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  pitching  and  the  tossing 
in  the  mind  of  our  French  buccaneer.  The  more 
he  thought  of  the  attractions  of  the  fair  widow  and 
of  the  wealth  and  position  which  had  been  offered 
him,  the  more  he  hated  all  thoughts  of  his  piratical 
crew,  and  of  the  dastardly  and  cruel  character  of  the 
work  in  which  they  were  engaged.  If  he  could  have 
trusted  the  officers  and  citizens  of  the  town,  there  is 
not  much  doubt  that  he  would  have  married  the 
widow,  but  those  officers  and  citizens  were  Span- 
iards, and  he  was  a  Frenchman.  A  week  before  the 
inhabitants  of  the  place  had  been  prosperous,  con- 
tented, and  happy.  Now  they  had  been  robbed, 
insulted,  and  in  many  cases  ruined,  and  he  was  com- 
mander of  the  body  of  desperadoes  who  had  robbed 
and  ruined  them.  Was  it  likely  that  they  would 
forget  the  injuries  which  he  had  inflicted  upon  them 


The  Story  of  a  High-Minded  Pirate       189 

simply  because  he  had  married  a  wealthy  lady  of  the 
town  and  had  kindly  consented  to  accept  the  office 
of  city  treasurer  ? 

It  was  much  more  probable  that  when  his  men 
had  really  left  that  part  of  the  country  the  citi- 
zens would  forget  all  their  promises  to  him  and 
remember  only  his  conduct  toward  them,  and  that 
even  if  he  remained  alive  long  enough  to  marry  the 
lady  and  take  the  position  offered  him,  it  would  not 
be  long  before  she  was  again  a  widow  and  the  office 
vacant. 

So  de  Lussan  shut  his  eyes  to  the  tempting  pros- 
pects which  were  spread  out  before  him,  and  pre- 
ferring rather  to  be  a  live  buccaneer  than  a  dead  city 
treasurer,  he  told  the  beautiful  widow  that  he  could 
not  marry  her  and  that  he  must  go  forth  again  into 
the  hard,  unsympathetic  world  to  fight,  to  burn,  to 
steal,  and  to  be  polite.  Then,  fearing  that  if  he  re- 
mained he  might  find  his  resolution  weakened,  he 
gathered  together  his  men  and  his  pillage,  and  sadly 
went  away,  leaving  behind  him  a  joyful  town  and  a 
weeping  widow. 

If  the  affection  of  the  young  Spanish  lady  for  the 
buccaneer  chief  was  sufficient  to  make  her  take  an 
interest  in  his  subsequent  career,  she  would  probably 
have  been  proud  of  him,  for  the  ladies  of  those  days 
had  a  high  opinion  of  brave  men  and  successful 
warriors.     De  Lussan  soon  proved  that  he  was  not 


190     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

only  a  good  fighter,  but  that  he  was  also  an  able 
general,  and  his  operations  on  the  western  coast  of 
South  America  were  more  like  military  campaigns 
than  ordinary  expeditions  of  lawless  buccaneers. 

He  attacked  and  captured  the  city  of  Panama, 
always  an  attractive  prize  to  the  buccaneer  forces, 
and  after  that  he  marched  down  the  western  coast 
of  South  America,  conquering  and  sacking  many 
towns.  As  he  now  carried  on  his  business  in  a 
somewhat  wholesale  way,  it  could  not  fail  to  bring 
him  in  a  handsome  profit,  and  in  the  course  of 
time  he  felt  that  he  was  able  to  retire  from  the 
active  practice  of  his  profession  and  to  return  to 
France. 

But  as  he  was  going  back  into  the  circles  of 
respectability,  he  wished  to  do  so  as  a  respectable 
man.  He  discarded  his  hat  and  plume,  he  threw 
away  his  great  cutlass  and  his  heavy  pistols,  and 
attired  in  the  costume  of  a  gentleman  in  society  he 
prepared  himself  to  enter  again  upon  his  old  life. 
He  made  the  acquaintance  of  some  of  the  French 
colonial  oflicers  in  the  West  Indies,  and  obtaining 
from  them  letters  of  introduction  to  the  Treasurer- 
General  of  France,  he  went  home  as  a  gentleman 
who  had  acquired  a  fortune  by  successful  enterprises 
in  the  new  world. 

The  pirate  who  not  only  possesses  a  sense  of  pro- 
priety and  a  sensitive  mind,  but  is  also  gifted  with 


The  Story  of  a  High- Minded  Pirate       191 

an  ability  to  write  a  book  in  which  he  describes  his 
own  actions  and  adventures,  is  to  be  credited  with 
unusual  advantages,  and  as  Raveneau  de  Lussan 
possessed  these  advantages,  he  has  come  down  to 
posterity  as  a  high-minded  pirate. 


Chapter  XXI 
Exit  Buccaneer ;  Enter  Pirate 

THE  buccaneers  of  the  West  Indies  and 
South  America  had  grown  to  be  a  most 
formidable  body  of  reckless  freebooters. 
From  merely  capturing  Spanish  ships,  laden  with 
the  treasures  taken  from  the  natives  of  the  new 
world,  they  had  grown  strong  enough  to  attack 
Spanish  towns  and  cities.  But  when  they  became 
soldiers  and  marched  in  little  armies,  the  patience 
of  the  civilized  world  began  to  weaken:  Panama, 
for  instance,  was  an  important  Spanish  city ;  Eng- 
land was  at  peace  with  Spain ;  therefore,  when  a 
military  force  composed  mainly  of  Englishmen,  and 
led  by  a  British  subject,  captured  and  sacked  the 
said  Spanish  city,  England  was  placed  in  an  awkward 
position  ;  if  she  did  not  interfere  with  her  buccaneers, 
she  would  have  a  quarrel  to  settle  with  Spain. 

Therefore  it  was  that  a  new  Governor  was  sent 
to  Jamaica  with  strict  orders  to  use  every  power  he 
possessed  to  put  down  the  buccaneers  and  to  break 
up  their  organization,  and  it  was  to  this  end  that  he 

192 


Exit  Buccaneer;  Enter  Pirate  193 

set  a  thief  to  catch  thieves  and  empowered  the  ex- 
pirate,  Morgan,  to  execute  his  former  comrades. 

But  methods  of  conciliation,  as  well  as  threats  of 
punishment,  were  used  to  induce  the  buccaneers  to 
give  up  their  illegal  calling,  and  liberal  offers  were 
made  to  them  to  settle  in  Jamaica  and  become  law- 
abiding  citizens.  They  were  promised  grants  of  land 
and  assistance  of  various  kinds  in  order  to  induce 
them  to  take  up  the  legitimate  callings  of  planters 
and  traders. 

But  these  offers  were  not  at  all  tempting  to  the 
Brethren  of  the  Coast;  from  pirates  rampant  to 
pirates  couchant  was  too  great  a  change,  and  some 
of  them,  who  found  it  impossible  to  embark  on 
piratical  cruises,  on  account  of  the  increasing  diffi- 
culties of  fitting  out  vessels,  returned  to  their  origi- 
nal avocations  of  cattle-butchering  and  beef-drying, 
and  some,  it  is  said,  chose  rather  to  live  among  the 
wild  Indians  and  share  their  independent  lives, 
than  to  bind  themselves  to  any  form  of  honest 
industry. 

The  French  had  also  been  very  active  in  sup- 
pressing the  operations  of  their  buccaneers,  and 
now  the  Brethren  of  the  Coast,  considered  as  an 
organization  for  preying  upon  the  commerce  and 
settlers  of  Spain,  might  be  said  to  have  ceased  to 
exist.  But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  because 
buccaneering  had  died  out,  that  piracy  was  dead. 


194     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

If  we  tear  down  a  wasps*  nest,  we  destroy  the  abode 
of  a  fierce  and  pitiless  community,  but  we  scatter 
the  wasps,  and  it  is  likely  that  each  one  of  them, 
in  the  unrestricted  and  irresponsible  career  to  which 
he  has  been  unwillingly  forced,  will  prove  a  much 
more  angry  and  dangerous  insect  than  he  had  ever 
been  before. 

This  is  what  happened  to  these  buccaneers  who 
would  not  give  up  a  piratical  life ;  driven  away  from 
Jamaica,  from  San  Domingo,  and  even  from  Tor- 
tuga,  they  retained  a  resting-place  only  at  New 
Providence,  an  island  in  the  Bahamas,  and  this  they 
did  not  maintain  very  long.  Then  they  spread 
themselves  all  over  the  watery  world.  They  were 
no  longer  buccaneers,  they  were  no  longer  brothers 
of  any  sort  or  kind,  they  no  longer  set  out  merely 
to  pillage  and  fight  the  Spaniards,  but  their  attacks 
were  made  upon  people  of  every  nation.  English 
ships  and  French  ships,  once  safe  from  them,  were 
a  welcome  prey  to  these  new  pirates,  unrestrained 
by  any  kind  of  loyalty,  even  by  any  kind  of  enmity. 
They  were  more  rapacious,  they  were  more  cruel, 
they  were  more  like  fiends  than  they  had  ever  been 
before.  They  were  cowardly  and  they  no  longer 
proceeded  against  towns  which  might  be  defended, 
nor  ran  up  alongside  of  a  man-of-war  to  boldly 
board  her  in  the  very  teeth  of  her  guns.  They 
confined  themselves  to  attacks  upon  peaceable  mer- 


Exit  Buccaneer;  Enter  Pirate  195 

chant  vessels,  often  robbing  them  and  then  scuttling 
them,  delighted  with  the  spectacle  of  a  ship,  with 
all  its  crew,  sinking  hopelessly  into  the  sea. 

The  scene  of  piratical  operations  in  America  was 
now  very  much  changed.  The  successors  of  the 
Brothers  of  the  Coast,  no  longer  united  by  any 
bonds  of  fellowship,  but  each  pirate  captain  acting 
independently  in  his  own  wicked  way,  was  coming 
up  from  the  West  Indies  to  afflict  the  seacoast  of 
our  country. 

The  old  buccaneers  knew  all  about  our  southern 
coast,  for  they  were  among  the  very  first  white  men 
who  ever  set  foot  on  the  shores  of  North  and  South 
Carolina  before  that  region  had  been  settled  by 
colonists,  and  when  the  only  inhabitants  were  the 
wild  Indians.  These  early  buccaneers  often  used 
its  bays  and  harbors  as  convenient  ports  of  refuge, 
where  they  could  anchor,  divide  spoils,  take  in  fresh 
water,  and  stay  as  long  as  they  pleased  without  fear 
of  molestation.  It  was  natural  enough  that  when 
the  Spanish-hating  buccaneer  merged  into  the  inde- 
pendent pirate,  who  respected  no  flag,  and  preyed 
upon  ships  of  every  nation,  he  should  feel  very 
much  at  home  on  the  Carolina  coasts. 

As  the  country  was  settled,  and  Charles  Town, 
now  Charleston,  grew  to  be  a  port  of  considerable 
importance,  the  pirates  felt  as  much  at  home  in  this 
region  as  when  it  was  inhabited  merely  by  Indians. 


196     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

They  frequently  touched  at  little  seaside  settlements, 
and  boldly  sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Charles  Towrt 
But,  unlike  the  unfortunate  citizens  of  Porto  Bello 
or  Maracaibo,  the  American  colonists  were  not 
frightened  when  they  saw  a  pirate  ship  anchored  in 
their  harbors,  for  they  knew  its  crew  did  not  come 
as  enemies,  but  as  friendly  traders. 

The  early  English  colonists  were  not  as  prosper- 
ous as  they  might  have  been  if  the  mother  country 
had  not  been  so  anxious  to  make  money  out  of 
them.  They  were  not  allowed  to  import  goods 
from  any  country  but  England,  and  if  they  had  prod- 
ucts or  crops  to  export,  they  must  be  sold  to  Eng- 
lish merchants.  For  whatever  they  bought  they 
had  to  pay  the  highest  prices,  and  they  could  not 
send  into  the  markets  of  the  world  to  get  the  best 
value  for  their  own  productions. 

Therefore  it  was  that  a  pirate  ship  was  a  very 
welcome  visitor  in  Charles  Town  harbor.  She  was 
generally  loaded  with  goods,  which,  as  they  were 
stolen,  her  captain  could  afford  to  sell  very  cheaply 
indeed,  and  as  there  was  always  plenty  of  Spanish 
gold  on  board,  her  crew  was  not  apt  to  haggle  very 
much  in  regard  to  the  price  of  the  spirits,  the  grocer- 
ies, or  the  provisions  which  they  bought  from  the 
merchants  of  the  town.  This  friendly  commerce 
between  the  pirates  and  the  Carolinians  grew  to  be 
so  extensive  that  at  one  time  the  larger  part  of  the 


Exit  Buccaneer;  Enter  Pirate  197 

coin  in  circulation  in  those  colonies  consisted  of 
Spanish  gold  pieces,  which  had  been  brought 
in  and  used  by  the  pirates  for  the  purchase  of 
goods. 

But  a  pirate  is  very  seldom  a  person  of  discretion, 
who  knows  when  to  leave  well  enough  alone,  and 
so,  instead  of  contenting  themselves  with  robbing 
and  capturing  the  vessels  belonging  to  people  whom 
their  Charles  Town  friends  and  customers  would 
look  upon  as  foreigners,  they  boldly  sailed  up  and 
down  the  coast,  seeking  for  floating  booty  wherever 
they  might  find  it,  and  when  a  pirate  vessel  com- 
manded by  an  English  captain  and  manned  prin- 
cipally by  an  English  crew,  fell  in  with  a  big 
merchantman  flying  the  English  flag,  they  bore 
down  upon  that  vessel,  just  as  if  it  had  been  French, 
or  Spanish,  or  Dutch,  and  if  the  crew  were  imperti- 
nent enough  to  offer  any  resistance,  they  w^re  cut 
down  and  thrown  overboard. 

At  last  the  pirates  became  so  swaggeringly  bold 
and  their  captains  so  enterprising  in  their  illegal 
trading  that  the  English  government  took  vigor- 
ous measures,  not  only  to  break  up  piracy,  but  to 
punish  all  colonists  who  should  encourage  the  free- 
booters by  commercial  dealings  with  them.  At 
these  laws  the  pirates  laughed,  and  the  colonists 
winced,  and  there  were  many  people  in  Charles 
Town  who  vowed  that  if  the  King  wanted  them  to 


198     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

help  him  put  down  piracy,  he  must  show  them  some 
other  way  of  getting  imported  goods  at  reasonable 
prices.  So  the  pirates  went  on  capturing  merchant- 
men whenever  they  had  a  chance,  and  the  Carolin- 
ians continued  to  look  forward  with  interest  to  the 
bargain  days  which  always  followed  the  arrival  of  a 
pirate  ship.  But  this  state  of  things  did  not  last, 
and  the  time  came  when  the  people  of  Charles 
Town  experienced  a  change  of  mind.  The  planters 
were  now  growing  large  quantities  of  rice,  and 
this  crop  became  so  valuable  that  the  prosperity 
of  the  colonies  greatly  increased.  And  now  the 
pirates  also  became  very  much  interested  in  the 
rice  crops,  and  when  they  had  captured  four  or 
five  vessels  sailing  out  of  Charles  Town  heavily 
laden  with  rice,  the  people  of  that  town  suddenly 
became  aware  of  the  true  character  of  a  pirate.  He 
was  now  in  their  eyes  an  unmitigated  scoundrel  who 
not  only  stole  goods  from  all  nations,  which  he 
brought  to  them  and  sold  at  low  prices,  but  he  actu- 
ally stole  their  goods,  their  precious  rice  which  they 
were  sending  to  England. 

The  indignant  citizens  of  Charles  Town  took  a 
bold  stand,  and  such  a  bold  one  it  was  that  when 
part  of  a  crew  of  pirates,  who  had  been  put  ashore 
by  their  comrades  on  account  of  a  quarrel,  made 
their  way  to  the  town,  thinking  they  could  tell  a 
tale  of  shipwreck  and  rely  upon  the  friendship  of 


Exit  Buccaneer;  Enter  Pirate  199 

their  old  customers,  they  were  taken  into  custody, 
and  seven  out  of  the  nine  were  hanged. 

The  occasional  repetition  of  such  acts  as  this, 
and  the  exhibition  of  dangling  pirates,  hung  up  like 
scarecrows  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbors,  dampened 
the  ardor  of  the  freebooters  a  good  deal,  and  for 
some  years  they  kept  away  from  the  harbor  of 
Charles  Town,  which  had  once  been  to  them  such 
a  friendly  port. 


Chapter  XXII 
The  Great  Blackbeard  comes  upon  the  Stage 

SO  long  as  the  people  of  the  Carolinas  were 
prosperous  and  able  to  capture  and  exe- 
cute pirates  who  interfered  with  their  trade, 
the  Atlantic  sea-robbers  kept  away  from  their  ports, 
but  this  prosperity  did  not  last.  Indian  wars  broke 
out,  and  in  the  course  of  time  the  colonies  became 
very  much  weakened  and  impoverished,  and  then  it 
was  that  the  harbor  of  Charles  Town  began  to  be 
again  interesting  to  the  pirates. 

About  this  time  one  of  the  most  famous  of  sea- 
robbers  was  harassing  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North 
America,  and  from  New  England  to  the  West 
Indies,  he  was  known  as  the  great  pirate  Blackbeard. 
This  man,  whose  real  name  was  Thatch,  was  a  most 
terrible  fellow  in  appearance  as  well  as  action.  He 
wore  a  long,  heavy,  black  beard,  which  it  was  his 
fancy  to  separate  into  tails,  each  one  tied  with  a 
colored  ribbon,  and  often  tucked  behind  his  ears. 
Some  of  the  writers  of  that  day  declared  that  the 
sight  of  this  beard  would  create  more  terror  in  any 

200 


Great  Blackbeard  comes  upon  the  Stage     201 

port  of  the  American  seaboard  than  would  the 
sudden  appearance  of  a  fiery  comet.  Across  his 
brawny  breast  he  carried  a  sort  of  a  sling  in  which 
hung  not  less  than  three  pairs  of  pistols  in  leathern 
holsters,  and  these,  in  addition  to  his  cutlass  and  a 
knife  or  two  in  his  belt,  made  him  a  most  formidable- 
looking  fellow. 

Some  of  the  fanciful  recreations  of  Blackbeard 
show  him  to  have  been  a  person  of  consistent  pur- 
pose. Even  in  his  hours  of  rest  when  he  was  not 
fighting  or  robbing,  his  savage  soul  demanded  some 
interesting  excitement.  Once  he  was  seated  at 
table  with  his  mate  and  two  or  three  sailors,  and 
when  the  meal  was  over  he  took  up  a  pair  of 
pistols,  and  cocking  them  put  them  under  the  table. 
This  peculiar  action  caused  one  of  the  sailors  to 
remember  very  suddenly  that  he  had  something  to 
do  on  deck,  and  he  immediately  disappeared.  But 
the  others  looked  at  their  captain  in  astonishment, 
wondering  what  he  would  do  next.  They  soon 
found  out ;  for  crossing  the  pistols,  still  under  the 
table,  he  fired  them.  One  ball  hit  the  mate  in  the 
leg,  but  the  other  struck  no  one.  When  asked 
what  he  meant  by  this  strange  action,  he  replied  that 
if  he  did  not  shoot  one  of  his  men  now  and  then 
they  would  forget  what  sort  of  a  person  he  was. 

At  another  time  he  invented  a  game ;  he  gathered 
his  officers  and  crew  together  and  told  them  that 


202     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

they  were  going  to  play  that  they  were  living  in  the 
lower  regions.  Thereupon  the  whole  party  followed 
him  down  into  the  hold.  The  hatches  and  all  the 
other  openings  were  closed,  and  then  Blackbeard 
began  to  illuminate  the  scene  with  fire  and  brim- 
stone. The  sulphur  burned,  the  fumes  rose,  a 
ghastly  light  spread  over  the  countenances  of  the 
desperadoes,  and  very  soon  some  of  them  began  to 
gasp  and  cough  and  implore  the  captain  to  let  in 
some  fresh  air,  but  Blackbeard  was  bound  to  have 
a  good  game,  and  he  proceeded  to  burn  more  brim- 
stone. He  laughed  at  the  gasping  fellows  about 
him  and  declared  that  he  would  be  just  as  willing  to 
breathe  the  fumes  of  sulphur  as  common  air.  When 
at  last  he  threw  open  the  hatches,  some  of  the  men 
were  almost  dead,  but  their  stalwart  captain  had  not 
even  sneezed. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  Black- 
beard made  his  headquarters  in  one  of  the  inlets  on 
the  North  Carolina  coast,  and  there  he  ruled  as 
absolute  king,  for  the  settlers  in  the  vicinity  seemed 
to  be  as  anxious  to  oblige  him  as  the  captains  of  the 
merchantmen  sailing  along  the  coast  were  anxious 
to  keep  out  of  his  way.  On  one  of  his  voyages 
Blackbeard  went  down  the  coast  as  far  as  Honduras, 
where  he  took  a  good  many  prizes,  and  as  some  of 
the  crews  of  the  captured  vessels  enlisted  under  him 
he   sailed   north  with   a   stronger  force  than  ever 


Great  Blackbeard  comes  upon  the  Stage     203 

before,  having  a  large  ship  of  forty  guns,  three 
smaller  vessels,  and  four  hundred  men.  With  this 
little  fleet  Blackbeard  made  for  the  coast  of  South 
Carolina,  and  anchored  outside  the  harbor  of  Charles 
Town.  He  well  understood  the  present  condition 
of  the  place  and  was  not  in  the  least  afraid  that  the 
citizens  would  hang  him  up  on  the  shores  of  the 
bay. 

Blackbeard  began  work  without  delay.  Several 
well-laden  ships  —  the  Carolinians  having  no  idea 
that  pirates  were  waiting  for  them  —  came  saiUng 
out  to  sea  and  were  immediately  captured.  One  of 
these  was  a  very  important  vessel,  for  it  not  only 
carried  a  valuable  cargo,  but  a  number  of  passengers, 
many  of  them  people  of  note,  who  were  on  their 
way  to  England.  One  of  these  was  a  Mr.  Wragg, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the  Province. 
It  might  have  been  supposed  that  when  Blackbeard 
took  possession  of  this  ship,  he  would  have  been 
satisfied  with  the  cargo  and  the  money  which  he 
found  on  board,  and  having  no  use  for  prominent 
citizens,  would  have  let  them  go  their  way ;  but  he 
was  a  trader  as  well  as  a  plunderer,  and  he  therefore 
determined  that  the  best  thing  to  do  in  this  case 
was  to  put  an  assorted  lot  of  highly  respectable 
passengers  upon  the  market  and  see  what  he  could 
get  for  them.  He  was  not  at  the  time  in  need  of 
money  or  provisions,  but  his  men  were  very  much 


204     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

in  want  of  medicines,  so  he  decided  to  trade  off  his 
prisoners  for  pills,  potions,  plasters,  and  all  sorts  of 
apothecary's  supplies. 

He  put  three  of  his  pirates  in  a  boat,  and  with 
them  one  of  the  passengers,  a  Mr.  Marks,  who  was 
commissioned  as  Blackbeard's  special  agent,  with 
orders  to  inform  the  Governor  that  if  he  did  not 
immediately  send  the  medicines  required,  amount- 
ing in  value  to  about  three  hundred  pounds,  and 
if  he  did  not  allow  the  pirate  crew  of  the  boat  to 
return  in  safety,  every  one  of  the  prisoners  would 
be  hanged  from  the  yard-arm  of  his  ship. 

The  boat  rowed  away  to  the  distant  town,  and 
Blackbeard  waited  two  days  for  its  return,  and  then 
he  grew  very  angry,  for  he  believed  that  his  mes- 
sengers had  been  taken  into  custody,  and  he  came 
very  near  hanging  Mr.  Wragg  and  all  his  compan- 
ions. But  before  he  began  to  satisfy  his  vengeance, 
news  came  from  the  boat.  It  had  been  upset  in 
the  bay,  and  had  had  great  trouble  in  getting  to 
Charles  Town,  but  it  had  arrived  there  at  last. 
Blackbeard  now  waited  a  day  or  two  longer;  but 
as  no  news  came  from  Mr.  Marks,  he  vowed  he 
would  not  be  trifled  with  by  the  impudent  peo- 
ple of  Charles  Town,  and  swore  that  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  among  the  prisoners  should 
immediately  prepare  to  be  hanged. 

Of  course  the  unfortunate  prisoners  in  the  pirate 


Great  Blackbeard  comes  upon  the  Stage     205 

ship  were  in  a  terrible  state  of  mind  during  the 
absence  of  Mr.  Marks.  They  knew  very  well  that 
they  could  expect  no  mercy  from  Blackbeard  if  the 
errand  should  be  unsuccessful,  and  they  also  knew 
that  the  Charles  Town  people  would  not  be  likely 
to  submit  to  such  an  outrageous  demand  upon 
them ;  so  they  trembled  and  quaked  by  day  and 
by  night,  and  when  at  last  they  were  told  to  get  ready 
to  be  hanged,  every  particle  of  courage  left  them,  and 
they  proposed  to  Blackbeard  that  if  he  would  spare 
their  lives,  and  that  if  it  should  turn  out  that  their 
fellow-citizens  had  decided  to  sacrifice  them  for  the 
sake  of  a  few  paltry  drugs,  they  would  take  up  the 
cause  of  the  pirates;  they  would  show  Blackbeard 
the  best  way  to  sail  into  the  harbor,  and  they  would 
join  with  him  and  his  men  in  attacking  the  city 
and  punishing  the  inhabitants  for  their  hard-hearted 
treatment  of  their  unfortunate  fellow-citizens. 

This  proposition  pleased  Blackbeard  immensely;  it 
would  have  been  like  a  new  game  to  take  Mr.  Wragg 
to  the  town  and  make  him  fight  his  fellow-members 
of  the  Council  of  the  Province,  and  so  he  rescinded 
his  order  for  a  general  execution,  and  bade  his  pris- 
oners prepare  to  join  with  his  pirates  when  he 
should  give  the  word  for  an  assault  upon  their 
city. 

In  the  meantime  there  was  a  terrible  stir  in 
Charles  Town.     When  the  Governor  and  citizens 


2o6     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

received  the  insolent  and  brutal  message  of  Black- 
beard  they  were  filled  with  rage  as  well  as  conster- 
nation, and  if  there  had  been  any  way  of  going  out 
to  sea  to  rescue  their  unhappy  fellow-citizens,  every 
able-bodied  man  in  the  town  would  have  enlisted  in 
the  expedition.  But  they  had  no  vessels  of  war,  and 
they  were  not  even  in  a  position  to  arm  any  of  the 
merchantmen  in  the  harbor.  It  seemed  to  the 
Governor  and  his  council  that  there  was  nothing 
for  them  to  do  but  to  submit  to  the  demands  of 
Blackbeard,  for  they  very  well  knew  that  he  was  a 
scoundrel  who  would  keep  his  word,  and  also  that 
whatever  they  did  must  be  done  quickly,  for  there 
were  the  three  swaggering  pirates  in  the  town,  strut- 
ting about  the  streets  as  if  they  owned  the  place. 
If  this  continued  much  longer,  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  keep  the  infuriated  citizens  from  falling 
upon  these  blustering  rascals  and  bringing  their  im- 
pertinence to  a  summary  end.  If  this  should  hap- 
pen, it  would  be  a  terrible  thing,  for  not  only  would 
Mr.  Wragg  and  his  companions  be  put  to  death, 
but  the  pirates  would  undoubtedly  attack  the  town, 
which  was  in  a  very  poor  position  for  defence. 

Consequently  the  drugs  were  collected  with  all 
possible  haste,  and  Mr.  Marks  and  the  pirates  were 
sent  with  them  to  Blackbeard.  We  do  not  know 
whether  or  not  that  bedizened  cutthroat  was  sat- 
isfied with  the  way  things  turned  out;  for  having 


Great  Blackbeard  comes  upon  the  Stage     207 

had  the  idea  of  going  to  Charles  Town  and  obliging 
the  prisoners  to  help  him  confiscate  the  drugs  and 
chemicals,  he  may  have  preferred  this  unusual  pro- 
ceeding to  a  more  commonplace  transaction  ;  but  as 
the  medicine  had  arrived  he  accepted  it,  and  having 
secured  all  possible  booty  and  money  from  the  ships 
he  had  captured,  and  had  stripped  his  prisoners  of 
the  greater  part  of  their  clothing,  he  set  them  on 
shore  to  walk  to  Charles  Town  as  well  as  they 
could.  They  had  a  miserably  difficult  time,  making 
their  way  through  the  woods  and  marshes,  for  there 
were  women  and  children  among  them  who  were 
scarcely  equal  to  the  journey.  One  of  the  children 
was  a  little  boy,  the  son  of  Mr.  Wragg,  who  after- 
ward became  a  very  prominent  man  in  the  colonies. 
He  rose  to  such  a  high  position,  not  only  among 
his  countrymen,  but  in  the  opinion  of  the  English 
government,  that  when  he  died,  about  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution,  a  tablet  to  his  memory  was  placed 
in  Westminster  Abbey,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  first 
instance  of  such  an  honor  being  paid  to  an 
American. 

Having  now  provided  himself  with  medicines 
enough  to  keep  his  wild  crew  in  good  physical 
condition,  no  matter  how  much  they  might  feast 
and  frolic  on  the  booty  they  had  obtained  from 
Charles  Town,  Blackbeard  sailed  back  to  his  North 
Carolina  haunts  and  took  a  long  vacation,  during 


2o8     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

which  time  he  managed  to  put  himself  on  very  good 
terms  with  the  Governor  and  officials  of  the  country. 
He  had  plenty  of  money  and  was  willing  to  spend 
it,  and  so  he  was  allowed  to  do  pretty  much  as  he 
pleased,  provided  he  kept  his  purse  open  and  did 
not  steal  from  his  neighbors. 

But  Blackbeard  became  tired  of  playing  the  part 
of  a  make-believe  respectable  citizen,  and  having 
spent  the  greater  part  of  his  money,  he  wanted  to 
make  some  more.  Consequently  he  fitted  out  a 
small  vessel,  and  declaring  that  he  was  going  on  a 
legitimate  commercial  cruise,  he  took  out  regular 
papers  for  a  port  in  the  West  Indies  and  sailed 
away,  as  if  he  had  been  a  mild-mannered  New  Eng- 
land mariner  going  to  catch  codfish.  The  officials 
of  the  town  of  Bath,  from  which  he  sailed,  came 
down  to  the  ship  and  shook  hands  with  him  and 
hoped  he  would  have  good  success. 

After  a  moderate  absence  he  returned  to  Bath, 
bringing  with  him  a  large  French  merchant  vessel, 
with  no  people  on  board,  but  loaded  with  a  valuable 
cargo  of  sugar  and  other  goods.  This  vessel  he 
declared  he  had  found  deserted  at  sea,  and  he  there- 
fore claimed  it  as  a  legitimate  prize.  Knowing  the 
character  of  this  bloody  pirate,  and  knowing  how 
very  improbable  it  was  that  the  captain  and  all  the 
crew  of  a  valuable  merchant  vessel,  with  nothing 
whatever  the  matter  with  her,  would  go  out  into 


Great  Blackbeard  comes  upon  the  Stage     209 

their  boats  and  row  away,  leaving  their  ship  to  be- 
come the  property  of  any  one  who  might  happen 
along,  it  may  seem  surprising  that  the  officials  of 
Bath  appeared  to  have  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of 
Blackbeard's  story,  and  allowed  him  freely  to  land 
the  cargo  on  the  French  ship  and  store  it  away  as 
his  own  property. 

But  people  who  consort  with  pirates  cannot  be 
expected  to  have  very  lively  consciences,  and  al- 
though there  must  have  been  persons  in  the  town 
with  intelligence  enough  to  understand  the  story  of 
pitiless  murder  told  by  that  empty  vessel,  whose 
very  decks  and  masts  must  have  been  regarded  as 
silent  witnesses  that  her  captain  and  crew  did  not 
leave  her  of  their  own  free  will,  no  one  in  the  town 
interfered  with  the  thrifty  Blackbeard  or  caused  any 
public  suspicion  to  fall  upon  the  propriety  of  his 
actions. 


Chapter  XXIII 
A  True-Hearted  Sailor  draws  his  Sword 

FEELING  now  quite  sure  that  he  could  do 
what  he  pleased  on  shore  as  well  as  at  sea, 
Blackbeard  swore  more,  swaggered  more,  and 
whenever  he  felt  like  it,  sailed  up  and  down  the 
coast  and  took  a  prize  or  two  to  keep  the  pot  boil- 
ing for  himself  and  his  men. 

On  one  of  these  expeditions  he  went  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  having  landed,  he  walked  about  to  see 
what  sort  of  a  place  it  was,  but  the  Governor  of  the 
state,  hearing  of  his  arrival,  quickly  arranged  to  let 
him  know  that  the  Quaker  city  allowed  no  black- 
hearted pirate,  with  a  ribbon-bedecked  beard,  to 
promenade  on  Chestnut  and  Market  streets,  and 
promptly  issued  a  warrant  for  the  sea-robber's  arrest. 
But  Blackbeard  was  too  sharp  and  too  old  a  crimi- 
nal to  be  caught  in  that  way,  and  he  left  the  city 
with  great  despatch. 

The  people  along  the  coast  of  North  Carolina 
became  very  tired  of  Blackbeard  and  his  men.     All 

2IO 


A  True- Hearted  Sailor  draws  his  Sword     211 

sorts  of  depredations  were  committed  on  vessels, 
large  and  small,  and  whenever  a  ship  was  boarded 
and  robbed  or  whenever  a  fishing-vessel  was  laid 
under  contribution,  Blackbeard  was  known  to  be  at 
the  bottom  of  the  business,  whether  he  personally 
appeared  or  not.  To  have  this  busy  pirate  for  a 
neighbor  was  extremely  unpleasant,  and  the  North 
Carolina  settlers  greatly  longed  to  get  rid  of  him. 
It  was  of  no  use  for  them  to  ask  their  own  State 
Government  to  suppress  this  outrageous  scoundrel, 
and  although  their  good  neighbor.  South  Carolina, 
might  have  been  willing  to  help  them,  she  was  too 
poor  at  that  time  and  had  enough  to  do  to  take  care 
of  herself. 

Not  knowing,  or  not  caring  for  the  strong  feel- 
ing of  the  settlers  against  him,  Blackbeard  continued 
in  his  wicked  ways,  and  among  other  crimes  he  capt- 
ured a  small  vessel  and  treated  the  crew  in  such  a 
cruel  and  atrocious  manner  that  the  better  class  of 
North  Carolinians  vowed  they  would  stand  him  no 
longer,  and  they  therefore  applied  to  Governor 
Spotswood,  of  Virginia,  and  asked  his  aid  in  putting 
down  the  pirates.  The  Virginians  were  very  willing 
to  do  what  they  could  for  their  unfortunate  neigh- 
bors. The  legislature  offered  a  reward  for  the  capt- 
ure of  Blackbeard  or  any  of  his  men ;  but  the 
Governor,  feeling  that  this  was  not  enough,  deter- 
mined to  do  something  on  his  own  responsibility, 


212     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

for  he  knew  very  well  that  the  time  might  come 
when  the  pirate  vessels  would  begin  to  haunt  Vir- 
ginia waters. 

There  happened  to  be  at  that  time  two  small 
British  men-of-war  in  Hampton  Roads,  and  al- 
though the  Governor  had  no  authority  to  send 
these  after  the  pirates,  he  fitted  out  two  sloops  at 
his  own  expense  and  manned  them  with  the  best 
fighting  men  from  the  war-vessels.  One  of  the 
sloops  he  put  under  Captain  Brand,  and  the  other 
under  Captain  Maynard,  both  brave  and  experi- 
enced naval  officers.  All  preparations  were  made 
with  the  greatest  secrecy  —  for  if  Blackbeard  had 
heard  of  what  was  going  on,  he  would  probably 
have  decamped  —  and  then  the  two  sloops  went  out 
to  sea  with  a  commission  from  the  Governor  to  capt- 
ure Blackbeard,  dead  or  alive.  This  was  a  pretty 
heavy  contract,  but  Brand  and  Maynard  were  cour- 
ageous men  and  did  not  hesitate  to  take  it. 

The  Virginians  had  been  informed  that  the  pirate 
captain  and  his  men  were  on  a  vessel  in  Ocracoke 
Inlet,  and  when  they  arrived  they  found,  to  their 
delight,  that  Blackbeard  was  there.  When  the 
pirates  saw  the  two  armed  vessels  sailing  into  the 
inlet,  they  knew  very  well  that  they  were  about  to  be 
attacked,  and  it  did  not  take  them  long  to  get  ready 
for  a  fight,  nor  did  they  wait  to  see  what  their  enemy 
was  about  to  do.     As  soon  as  the  sloops  were  near 


A  True-Hearted  Sailor  draws  his  Sword     21  j 

enough,  Blackbeard,  without  waiting  for  any  prelimi- 
nary exercises,  such  as  a  demand  for  surrender  or 
any  nonsense  of  that  sort,  let  drive  at  the  intruders 
with  eight  heavily  loaded  cannon. 

Now  the  curtain  had  been  rung  up,  and  the  play 
began,  and  a  very  lively  play  it  was.  The  guns 
of  the  Virginians  blazed  away  at  the  pirate  ship, 
and  they  would  have  sent  out  boats  to  board  her 
had  not  Blackbeard  forestalled  them.  Boarding 
was  always  a  favorite  method  of  fighting  with  the 
pirates.  They  did  not  often  carry  heavy  cannon, 
and  even  when  they  did,  they  had  but  little  fancy 
for  battles  at  long  distances.  What  they  liked  was 
to  meet  foes  face  to  face  and  cut  them  down  on 
their  own  decks.  In  such  combats  they  felt  at 
home,  and  were  almost  always  successful,  for  there 
were  few  mariners  or  sailors,  even  in  the  British 
navy,  who  could  stand  against  these  brawny,  glar- 
ing-eyed dare-devils,  who  sprang  over  the  sides  of 
a  vessel  like  panthers,  and  fought  like  bulldogs. 
Blackbeard  had  had  enough  cannonading,  and  he 
did  not  wait  to  be  boarded.  Springing  into  a 
boat  with  about  twenty  of  his  men,  he  rowed  to 
the  vessel  commanded  by  Maynard,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  he  and  his  pirates  surged  on  board 
her. 

Now  there  followed  on  the  decks  of  that  sloop 
one   of  the   most   fearful   hand-to-hand   combats 


214     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

known  to  naval  history.  Pirates  had  often  attacked 
vessels  where  they  met  with  strong  resistance,  but 
never  had  a  gang  of  sea-robbers  fallen  in  with  such 
bold  and  skilled  antagonists  as  those  who  now  con- 
fronted Blackbeard  and  his  crew.  At  it  they  went, 
—  cut,  fire,  slash,  bang,  howl,  and  shout.  Steel 
clashed,  pistols  blazed,  smoke  went  up,  and  blood 
ran  down,  and  it  was  hard  in  the  confusion  for  a 
man  to  tell  friend  from  foe.  Blackbeard  was  every- 
where, bounding  from  side  to  side,  as  he  swung  his 
cutlass  high  and  low,  and  though  many  a  shot  was 
fired  at  him,  and  many  a  rush  made  in  his  direction, 
every  now  and  then  a  sailor  went  down  beneath  his 
whirling  blade. 

But  the  great  pirate  had  not  boarded  that  ship 
to  fight  with  common  men.  He  was  looking  for 
Maynard,  the  commander.  Soon  he  met  him,  and 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  found  his  match. 
Maynard  was  a  practised  swordsman,  and  no  mat- 
ter how  hard  and  how  swiftly  came  down  the  cutlass 
of  the  pirate,  his  strokes  were  always  evaded,  and 
the  sword  of  the  Virginian  played  more  dangerously 
near  him.  At  last  Blackbeard,  finding  that  he  could 
not  cut  down  his  enemy,  suddenly  drew  a  pistol, 
and  was  about  to  empty  its  barrels  into  the  very 
face  of  his  opponent,  when  Maynard  sent  his  sword- 
blade  into  the  throat  of  the  furious  pirate ;  the 
great  Blackbeard  went  down  upon  his  back  on  the 


'*Maynard  was  a  practised  swordsman,  and  the  great  Blackbeard 
went  down  upon  his  back."  — p.  214. 


A  True-Hearted  Sailor  draws  his  Sword     215 

deck,  and  in  the  next  moment  Maynard  put  an  end 
to  his  nefarious  career.  Their  leader  dead,  the  few 
pirates  who  were  left  alive  gave  up  the  fight,  and 
sprang  overboard,  hoping  to  be  able  to  swim 
ashore,  and  the  victory  of  the  Virginians  was 
complete. 

The  strength,  toughness,  and  extraordinary  vital- 
ity of  these  feline  human  beings,  who  were  known 
as  pirates,  has  often  occasioned  astonishment  in  ordi- 
nary people.  Their  sun-tanned  and  hairy  bodies 
seemed  to  be  made  of  something  like  wire,  leather, 
and  India  rubber,  upon  which  the  most  tremendous 
exertions,  and  even  the  infliction  of  severe  wounds, 
made  but  little  impression.  Before  Blackbeard  fell, 
he  received  from  Maynard  and  others  no  less  than 
twenty-five  wounds,  and  yet  he  fought  fearlessly  to 
the  last,  and  when  the  panting  officer  sheathed  his 
sword,  he  felt  that  he  had  performed  a  most  signal 
deed  of  valor. 

When  they  had  broken  up  the  pirate  nest  in 
Ocracoke  Inlet,  the  two  sloops  sailed  to  Bath, 
where  they  compelled  some  of  the  unscrupulous 
town  officials  to  surrender  the  cargo  which  had 
been  stolen  from  the  French  vessel  and  stored 
in  the  town  by  Blackbeard ;  then  they  sailed 
proudly  back  to  Hampton  Roads,  with  the  head 
of  the  dreaded  Blackbeard  dangling  from  the  end 
of  the  bowsprit  of  the  vessel  he  had  boarded,  and 


21 6     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

on  whose  deck  he  had  discovered  the  fact,  before 
unknown  to  him,  that  a  well-trained,  honest  man 
can  fight  as  well  as  the  most  reckless  cutthroat  who 
ever  decked  his  beard  with  ribbons,  and  swore 
enmity  to  all  things  good. 


Chapter  XXIV 
A  Greenhorn  under  the  Black  Flag 

EARLY  in  the  eighteenth  centuxy  there  lived 
at  Bridgetown,  in  the  island  of  Barbadoes,  a 
very  pleasant,  middle-aged  gentleman  named 
Major  Stede  Bonnet.  He  was  a  man  in  comfortable 
circumstances,  and  had  been  an  officer  in  the  British 
army.  He  had  retired  from  military  service,  and  had 
bought  an  estate  at  Bridgetown,  where  he  lived  in 
comfort  and  was  respected  by  his  neighbors. 

But  for  some  reason  or  other  this  quiet  and  repu- 
table gentleman  got  it  into  his  head  that  he  would 
like  to  be  a  pirate.  There  were  some  persons  who 
said  that  this  strange  fancy  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
his  wife  did  not  make  his  home  pleasant  for  him, 
but  it  is  quite  certain  that  if  a  man  wants  an  excuse 
for  robbing  and  murdering  his  fellow-beings  he 
ought  to  have  a  much  better  one  than  the  bad 
temper  of  his  wife.  But  besides  the  general  rea- 
sons why  Major  Bonnet  should  not  become  a  pirate, 
and  which  applied  to  all  men  as  well  as  himself, 
there  was  a  special  reason  against  his  adoption  of 

217 


21 8     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

the  profession  of  a  sea-robber,  for  he  was  an  out-and- 
out  landsman  and  knew  nothing  whatever  of  nauti- 
cal matters.  He  had  been  at  sea  but  very  little, 
and  if  he  had  heard  a  boatswain  order  his  man  to 
furl  the  keel,  to  batten  down  the  shrouds,  or  to 
hoist  the  forechalns  to  the  topmast  yard,  he  would 
have  seen  nothing  out  of  the  way  in  these  com- 
mands. He  was  very  fond  of  history,  and  very 
well  read  in  the  literature  of  the  day.  He  was 
accustomed  to  the  habits  of  good  society,  and  knew 
a  great  deal  about  farming  and  horses,  cows  and 
poultry,  but  if  he  had  been  compelled  to  steer  a 
vessel,  he  would  not  have  known  how  to  keep  her 
bow  ahead  of  her  stern. 

But  notwithstanding  this  absolute  incapacity  for 
such  a  life,  and  the  absence  of  any  of  the  ordinary 
motives  for  abandoning  respectability  and  entering 
upon  a  career  of  crime.  Major  Bonnet  was  deter- 
mined to  become  a  pirate,  and  he  became  one.  He 
had  money  enough  to  buy  a  ship  and  to  fit  her  out 
and  man  her,  and  this  he  quietly  did  at  Bridgetown, 
nobody  supposing  that  he  was  going  to  do  anything 
more  than  start  off  on  some  commercial  cruise. 
When  everything  was  ready,  his  vessel  slipped  out 
of  the  harbor  one  night,  and  after  he  was  sailing 
safely  on  the  rolling  sea  he  stood  upon  the  quarter- 
deck and  proclaimed  himself  a  pirate.  It  might  not 
be  supposed  that  this  was  necessary,  for  the  seventy 


A  Greenhorn  under  the  Black  Flag       219 

men  on  board  his  ship  were  all  desperate  cutthroats, 
of  various  nationalities,  whom  he  had  found  in  the 
little  port,  and  who  knew  very  well  what  was  ex- 
pected of  them  when  they  reached  the  sea.  But  if 
Stede  Bonnet  had  not  proclaimed  himself  a  pirate, 
it  is  possible  that  he  might  not  have  believed,  him- 
self, that  he  was  one,  and  so  he  ran  up  the  black 
jflag,  with  its  skeleton  or  skull  and  cross-bones,  he 
girded  on  a  great  cutlass,  and,  folding  his  arms,  he 
ordered  his  mate  to  steer  the  vessel  to  the  coast  of 
Virginia. 

Although  Bonnet  knew  so  little  about  ships  and 
the  sea,  and  had  had  no  experience  in  piracy,  his 
men  were  practised  seamen,  and  those  of  them  who 
had  not  been  pirates  before  were  quite  ready  and 
very  well  fitted  to  become  such ;  so  when  this  green 
hand  came  into  the  waters  of  Virginia  he  actually 
took  two  or  three  vessels  and  robbed  them  of  their 
cargoes,  burning  the  ships,  and  sending  the  crews 
on  shore. 

This  had  grown  to  be  a  common  custom  among 
the  pirates,  who,  though  cruel  and  hard-hearted,  had 
not  the  inducements  of  the  old  buccaneers  to  torture 
and  murder  the  crews  of  the  vessels  which  they  capt- 
ured. They  could  not  hate  human  beings  in  gen- 
eral as  the  buccaneers  hated  the  Spaniards,  and  so 
they  were  a  little  more  humane  to  their  prisoners, 
setting  them  ashore  on  some  island  or  desert  coastj 


220     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

and  letting  them  shift  for  themselves  as  best  they 
might.  This  was  called  marooning,  and  was  some- 
wljat  less  heartless  than  the  old  methods  of  getting 
ricr  of  undesirable  prisoners  by  drowning  or  behead- 
ing them. 

As  Bonnet  had  always  been  rather  conventional 
in  his  ideas  and  had  respected  the  customs  of  the 
society  in  which  he  found  himself,  he  now  adopted 
all  the  piratical  fashions  of  the  day,  and  when  he 
found  himself  too  far  from  land  to  put  the  captured 
crew  on  shore,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  make  them 
"  walk  the  plank,"  which  was  a  favorite  device  of  the 
pirates  whenever  they  had  no  other  way  of  disposing 
of  their  prisoners.  The  unfortunate  wretches,  with 
their  hands  tied  behind  them,  were  compelled,  one 
by  one,  to  mount  a  plank  which  was  projected  over 
the  side  of  the  vessel  and  balanced  like  a  see-saw, 
and  when,  prodded  by  knives  and  cutlasses,  they 
stepped  out  upon  this  plank,  of  course  it  tipped  up, 
and  down  they  went  into  the  sea.  In  this  way, 
men,  women,  and  children  slipped  out  of  sight 
among  the  waves  as  the  vessel  sailed  merrily  on. 

In  one  branch  of  his  new  profession  Bonnet  rap- 
idly became  proficient.  He  was  an  insatiable  robber 
and  a  cruel  conqueror.  He  captured  merchant 
vsssels  all  along  the  coast  as  high  up  as  New  Eng- 
land, and  then  he  came  down  again  and  stopped  for 
a  while  before  Charles  Town  harbor,  where  he  took 


A  Greenhorn  under  the  Black  Flag      221 

a  couple  of  prizes,  and  then  put  into  one  of  the 
North  Carolina  harbors,  where  it  was  always  easy 
for  a  pirate  vessel  to  refit  and  get  ready  for  further 
adventures. 

Bonnet's  vessel  was  named  the  Revenge,  which  was 
about  as  ill  suited  to  the  vessel  as  her  commander 
was  ill  fitted  to  sail  her,  for  Bonnet  had  nobody  to 
revenge  himself  upon  unless,  indeed,  it  were  his 
scolding  wife.  But  a  good  many  pirate  ships  were 
then  called  the  Revenge,  and  Bonnet  was  bound  to 
follow  the  fashion,  whatever  it  might  be. 

Very  soon  after  he  had  stood  upon  the  quarter- 
deck and  proclaimed  himself  a  pirate  his  men  had 
discovered  that  he  knew  no  more  about  sailing  than 
he  knew  about  painting  portraits,  and  although 
there  were  under-officers  who  directed  all  the  nautical 
operations,  the  mass  of  the  crew  conceived  a  great 
contempt  for  a  landsman  captain.  There  was  much 
grumbling  and  growling,  and  many  of  the  men  would 
have  been  glad  to  throw  Bonnet  overboard  and  take 
the  ship  into  their  own  hands.  But  when  any 
symptoms  of  mutiny  showed  themselves,  the  pirates 
found  that  although  they  did  not  have  a  sailor  in 
command  over  them,  they  had  a  very  determined 
and  relentless  master.  Bonnet  knew  that  the  captain 
of  a  pirate  ship  ought  to  be  the  most  severe  jmd 
rigid  man  on  board,  and  so,  at  the  slightest  sign  of  in- 
subordination, his  grumbling  men  were  put  in  chains 


222     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

or  flogged,  and  it  was  Bonnet's  habit  at  such  times 
to  strut  about  the  deck  with  loaded  pistols,  threaten- 
ing to  blow  out  the  brains  of  any  man  who  dared  to 
disobey  him.  Recognizing  that  although  their  cap- 
tain was  no  sailor  he  was  a  first-class  tyrant,  the 
rebellious  crew  kept  their  grumbling  to  themselves 
and  worked  his  ship. 

Bonnet  now  pointed  the  bow  of  the  Revenge 
southward  —  that  is,  he  requested  somebody  else  to 
see  that  it  was  done  —  and  sailed  to  the  Bay  of 
Honduras,  which  was  a  favorite  resort  of  the  pirates 
about  that  time.  And  here  it  was  that  he  first  met 
with  the  famous  Captain  Blackbeard.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  our  amateur  pirate  was  very  glad  indeed 
to  become  acquainted  with  this  well-known  profes- 
sional, and  they  soon  became  good  friends.  Black- 
beard  was  on  the  point  of  organizing  an  expedition, 
and  he  proposed  that  Bonnet  and  his  vessel  should 
join  it.  This  invitation  was  gladly  accepted,  and 
the  two  pirate  captains  started  out  on  a  cruise  to- 
gether. Now  the  old  reprobate,  Blackbeard,  knew 
everything  about  ships  and  was  a  good  navigator, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  he  discovered  that  his 
new  partner  was  as  green  as  grass  in  regard  to  all 
nautical  affairs.  Consequently,  after  having  thought 
the  matter  over  for  a  time,  he  made  up  his  mind 
that  Bonnet  was  not  at  all  fit  to  command  such  a 
fine  vessel  as  the  one  he  owned  and  had  fitted  out, 


A  Greenhorn  under  the  Black  Flag       22 J 

and  as  pirates  make  their  own  laws,  and  perhaps  do 
not  obey  them  if  they  happen  not  to  feel  like  it, 
Blackbeard  sent  for  Bonnet  to  come  on  board  his 
ship,  and  then,  in  a  manner  as  cold-blooded  as  if 
he  had  been  about  to  cut  down  a  helpless  prisoner, 
Blackbeard  told  Bonnet  that  he  was  not  fit  to  be  a 
pirate  captain,  that  he  intended  to  keep  him  on 
board  his  own  vessel,  and  that  he  would  send  some- 
body to  take  charge  of  the  Revenge. 

This  was  a  fall  indeed,  and  Bonnet  was  almost 
stunned  by  it.  An  hour  before  he  had  been  proudly 
strutting  about  on  the  deck  of  a  vessel  which  be- 
longed to  him,  and  in  which  he  had  captured  many 
valuable  prizes,  and  now  he  was  told  he  was  to  stay 
on  Blackbeard's  ship  and  make  himself  useful  in 
keeping  the  log  book,  or  in  doing  any  other  easy 
thing  which  he  might  happen  to  understand.  The 
green  pirate  ground  his  teeth  and  swore  bitterly 
inside  of  himself,  but  he  said  nothing  openly ;  on 
Blackbeard's  ship  Blackbeard*s  decisions  were  not 
to  be  questioned. 


Chapter  XXV 
Bonnet  again  to  the  Front 

IT  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  late  com- 
mander of  the  Revenge  continued  to  be  satis- 
fied, as  he  sat  in  the  cabin  of  Blackbeard's 
vessel  and  made  the  entries  of  the  day's  sailing 
and  various  performances.  He  obeyed  the  orders 
of  his  usurping  partner  because  he  was  obliged  to 
do  so,  but  he  did  not  hate  Blackbeard  any  the  less 
because  he  had  to  keep  quiet  about  it.  He  accom- 
panied his  pirate  chief  on  various  cruises,  among 
which  was  the  famous  expedition  to  the  harbor  of 
Charles  Town  where  Blackbeard  traded  Mr.  Wragg 
and  his  companions  for  medicines. 

Having  a  very  fine  fleet  under  him,  Blackbeard 
did  a  very  successful  business  for  some  time,  but 
feeling  that  he  had  earned  enough  for  the  present, 
and  that  it  was  time  for  him  to  take  one  of  his 
vacations,  he  put  into  an  inlet  in  North  Carolina, 
where  he  disbanded  his  crew.  So  long  as  he  was  on 
shore  spending  his  money  and  having  a  good  time,  he 
did  not  want  to  have  a  lot  of  men  about  him  who 

224 


Bonnet  again  to  the  Front  225 

would  look  to  him  to  support  them  when  they  had 
spent  their  portion  of  the  spoils.  Having  no  fur- 
ther use  for  Bonnet,  he  dismissed  him  also,  and  did 
not  object  to  his  resuming  possession  of  his  own 
vessel.  If  the  green  pirate  chose  to  go  to  sea  again 
and  perhaps  drown  himself  and  his  crew,  it  was 
a  matter  of  no  concern  to  Blackbeard. 

But  this  was  a  matter  of  very  great  concern  to  Stede 
Bonnet,  and  he  proceeded  to  prove  that  there  were 
certain  branches  of  the  piratical  business  in  which 
he  was  an  adept,  and  second  to  none  of  his  fellow- 
practitioners.  He  wished  to  go  pirating  again,  and 
saw  a  way  of  doing  this  which  he  thought  would 
be  far  superior  to  any  of  the  common  methods.  It 
was  about  this  time  that  King  George  of  England, 
very  desirous  of  breaking  up  piracy,  issued  a  proc- 
lamation in  which  he  promised  pardon  to  any  pirate 
who  would  appear  before  the  proper  authorities, 
renounce  his  evil  practices,  and  take  an  oath  of  alle- 
giance. It  also  happened  that  very  soon  after  this 
proclamation  had  been  issued,  England  went  to  war 
with  Spain.  Being  a  man  who  kept  himself  posted 
in  the  news  of  the  world,  so  far  as  it  was  possible. 
Bonnet  saw  in  the  present  state  of  affairs  a  very 
good  chance  for  him  to  play  the  part  of  a  wolf  in 
sheep's  clothing,  and  he  proceeded  to  begin  his  new 
piratical  career  by  renouncing  piracy.  So  leaving 
the  Revenge  in  the  inlet,  he  journeyed  overland  to 

Q 


226     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Bath ;  there  he  signed  pledges,  took  oaths,  and  did 
everything  that  was  necessary  to  change  himself 
from  a  pirate  captain  to  a  respectable  commander 
of  a  duly  authorized  British  privateer.  Returning 
to  his  vessel  with  all  the  papers  in  his  pocket  neces- 
sary to  prove  that  he  was  a  loyal  and  law-abiding 
subject  of  Great  Britain,  he  took  out  regular  clear- 
ance papers  for  St.  Thomas,  which  was  a  British 
naval  station,  and  where  he  declared  he  was  going 
in  order  to  obtain  a  commission  as  a  privateer. 

Now  the  wily  Bonnet  had  everything  he  wanted 
except  a  crew.  Of  course  it  would  not  do  for  him, 
in  his  present  respectable  capacity,  to  go  about  en- 
listing unemployed  pirates,  but  at  this  point  fortune 
again  favored  him ;  he  knew  of  a  desert  island  not 
very  far  away  where  Blackbeard,  at  the  end  of  his 
last  cruise,  had  marooned  a  large  party  of  his  men. 
This  heartless  pirate  had  not  wanted  to  take  all  of 
his  followers  into  port,  because  they  might  prove 
troublesome  and  expensive  to  him,  and  so  he  had 
put  a  number  of  them  on  this  island,  to  live  or  die 
as  the  case  might  be.  Bonnet  went  over  to  this 
island,  and  finding  the  greater  part  of  these  men  still 
surviving,  he  offered  to  take  them  to  St.  Thomas 
in  his  vessel  if  they  would  agree  to  work  the  ship 
to  port.  This  proposition  was  of  course  joyfully 
accepted,  and  very  soon  the  Revenge  was  manned 
with  a  complete  crew  of  competent  desperadoes. 


Bonnet  again  to  the  Front  227 

All  these  operations  took  a  good  deal  of  time, 
and,  at  last,  when  everything  was  ready,  for  Bonnet 
to  start  out  on  his  piratical  cruise,  he  received 
information  which  caused  him  to  change  his  mind, 
and  to  set  forth  on  an  errand  of  a  very  different 
kind.  He  had  supposed  that  Blackbeard,  whom  he 
had  never  forgiven  for  the  shameful  and  treacherous 
manner  in  which  he  had  treated  him,  was  still  on 
shore  enjoying  himself,  but  he  was  told  by  the 
captain  of  a  small  trading  vessel  that  the  old  pirate 
was  preparing  for  another  cruise,  and  that  he  was 
then  in  Ocracoke  Inlet.  Now  Bonnet  folded  his 
arms  and  stamped  his  feet  upon  the  quarter-deck. 
The  time  had  come  for  him  to  show  that  the  name 
of  his  vessel  meant  something.  Never  before  had 
he  had  an  opportunity  for  revenging  himself  on 
anybody,  but  now  that  hour  had  arrived.  He 
would  revenge  himself  upon  Blackbeard ! 

The  implacable  Bonnet  sailed  out  to  sea  in  a 
truly  warlike  frame  of  mind.  He  was  not  going 
forth  to  prey  upon  unresisting  merchantmen ;  he 
was  on  his  way  to  punish  a  black-hearted  pirate,  a 
faithless  scoundrel,  who  had  not  only  acted  knavishly 
toward  the  world  in  general,  but  had  behaved  most 
disloyally  and  disrespectfully  toward  a  fellow  pirate 
chief.  If  he  could  once  run  the  Revenge  alongside 
the  ship  of  the  perfidious  Blackbeard,  he  would 
show  him  what  a  green  hand  could  do. 


228     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

When  Bonnet  reached  Ocracoke  Inlet,  he  was 
deeply  disappointed  to  find  that  Blackbeard  had 
left  that  harbor,  but  he  did  not  give  up  the  pursuit. 
He  made  hot  chase  after  the  vessel  of  his  pirate 
enemy,  keeping  a  sharp  lookout  in  hopes  of  discov- 
ering some  signs  of  him.  If  the  enraged  Bonnet 
could  have  met  the  ferocious  Blackbeard  face  to 
face,  there  might  have  been  a  combat  which  would 
have  relieved  the  world  of  two  atrocious  villains, 
and  Captain  Maynard  would  have  been  deprived  of 
the  honor  of  having  slain  the  most  famous  pirate 
of  the  day. 

Bonnet  was  a  good  soldier  and  a  brave  man, 
and  although  he  could  not  sail  a  ship,  he  under- 
stood the  use  of  the  sword  even  better,  perhaps, 
than  Blackbeard,  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe 
that  if  the  two  ships  had  come  together,  their  re- 
spective crews  would  have  allowed  their  captains  to 
fight  out  their  private  quarrel  without  interference, 
for  pirates  delight  in  a  bloody  spectacle,  and  this 
would  have  been  to  them  a  rare  diversion  of  the 
kind. 

But  Bonnet  never  overtook  Blackbeard,  and  the 
great  combat  between  the  rival  pirates  did  not  take 
place.  After  vainly  searching  for  a  considerable 
time  for  a  trace  or  sight  of  Blackbeard,  the  baffled 
Bonnet  gave  up  the  pursuit  and  turned  his  mind  to 
other  objects.     The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  change 


Bonnet  again  to  the  Front  229 

the  name  of  his  vessel;  if  he  could  not  be  re- 
venged, he  would  not  sail  in  the  Revenge.  Casting 
about  in  his  mind  for  a  good  name,  he  decided  to 
call  her  the  Royal  James,  Having  no  intention  of 
respecting  his  oaths  or  of  keeping  his  promises,  he 
thought  that,  as  he  was  going  to  be  disloyal,  he 
might  as  well  be  as  disloyal  as  he  could,  and  so  he 
gave  his  ship  the  name  assumed  by  the  son  of  James 
the  Second,  who  was  a  pretender  to  the  throne,  and 
was  then  in  France  plotting  against  the  English  gov- 
ernment. 

The  next  thing  he  did  was  to  change  his  own 
name,  for  he  thought  this  would  make  matters  bet- 
ter for  him  if  he  should  be  captured  after  entering 
upon  his  new  criminal  career.  So  he  called  himself 
Captain  Thomas,  by  which  name  he  was  afterwards 
known. 

When  these  preliminaries  had  been  arranged,  he 
gathered  his  crew  together  and  announced  that  in- 
stead of  going  to  St.  Thomas  to  get  a  commission 
as  a  privateer,  he  had  determined  to  keep  on  in  his 
old  manner  of  life,  and  that  he  wished  them  to 
understand  that  not  only  was  he  a  pirate  captain, 
but  that  they  were  a  pirate  crew.  Many  of  the  men 
were  very  much  surprised  at  this  announcement, 
for  they  had  thought  it  a  very  natural  thing  for 
the  green-hand  Bonnet  to  give  up  pirating  after  he 
had  been  so  thoroughly  snubbed  by  Blackbeard,  and 


230     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

they  had  not  supposed  that  he  would  ever  think 
again  of  sailing  under  a  black  flag. 

However,  the  crew's  opinion  of  the  green-hand 
captain  had  been  a  good  deal  changed.  In  his  various 
cruises  he  had  learned  a  good  deal  about  navigation, 
and  could  now  give  very  fair  orders,  and  his  furious 
pursuit  of  Blackbeard.had  also  given  him  a  reputa- 
tion for  reckless  bravery  which  he  had  not  enjoyed 
before.  A  man  who  was  chafing  and  fuming  for  a 
chance  of  a  hand-to-hand  conflict  with  the  greatest 
pirate  of  the  day  must  be  a  pretty  good  sort  of 
a  fellow  from  their  point  of  view.  Moreover,  their 
strutting  and  stalking  captain,  so  recently  balked  of 
his  dark  revenge,  was  a  very  savage-looking  man, 
and  it  would  not  be  pleasant  either  to  try  to  persuade 
him  to  give  up  his  piratical  intention,  or  to  decline 
to  join  him  in  carrying  it  out ;  so  the  whole  of  the 
crew,  minor  officers  and  men,  changed  their  minds 
about  going  to  St.  Thomas,  and  agreed  to  hoist 
the  skull  and  cross-bones,  and  to  follow  Captain 
Bonnet  wherever  he  might  lead. 

Bonnet  now  cruised  about  in  grand  style  and 
took  some  prizes  on  the  Virginia  coast,  and  then 
went  up  into  Delaware  Bay,  where  he  captured  such 
ships  as  he  wanted,  and  acted  generally  in  the  most 
domineering  and  insolent  fashion.  Once,  when  he 
stopped  near  the  town  of  Lewes,  in  order  to  send 
some  prisoners  ashore,  he  sent  a  message  to  the  offi- 


Bonnet  again  to  the  Front  231 

cers  of  the  town  to  the  effect  that  if  they  interfered 
with  his  men  when  they  came  ashore,  he  would  open 
fire  upon  the  town  with  his  cannon,  and  blow  every 
house  into  splinters.  Of  course  the  citizens,  having 
no  way  of  defending  themselves,  were  obliged  to 
allow  the  pirates  to  come  on  shore  and  depart 
unmolested. 

Then  after  this  the  blustering  captain  captured 
two  valuable  sloops,  and  wishing  to  take  them  along 
with  him  without  the  trouble  of  transferring  their 
cargoes  to  his  own  vessel,  he  left  their  crews  on 
board,  and  ordered  them  to  follow  him  wherever  he 
went.  Some  days  after  that,  when  one  of  the 
vessels  seemed  to  be  sailing  at  too  great  a  distance. 
Bonnet  quickly  let  her  captain  know  that  he  was 
not  a  man  to  be  trifled  with,  and  sent  him  the  mes- 
sage that  if  he  did  not  keep  close  to  the  Royal  James, 
he  would  fire  into  him  and  sink  him  to  the  bottom. 

After  a  time  Bonnet  put  into  a  North  Carolina 
port  in  order  to  repair  the  Royal  JameSy  which  was 
becoming  very  leaky,  and  seeing  no  immediate 
legitimate  way  of  getting  planks  and  beams  enough 
with  which  to  make  the  necessary  repairs,  he  capt- 
ured a  small  sloop  belonging  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  broke  it  up  in  order  to  get  the  material  he 
needed  to  make  his  own  vessel  seaworthy. 

Now  the  people  of  the  North  Carolina  coast  very 
seldom  interfered  with  pirates,  as  we  have  seen,  and 


232      Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  our  Coasts 

it  is  likely  that  Bonnet  might  have  stayed  in  port 
as  long  as  he  pleased,  and  repaired  and  refitted  his 
vessel  without  molestation  if  he  had  bought  and 
paid  for  the  planks  and  timber  he  required.  But 
when  it  came  to  boldly  seizing  their  property,  that 
was  too  much  even  for  the  people  of  the  region, 
and  complaints  of  Bonnet's  behavior  spread  from 
settlement  to  settlement,  and  it  very  soon  became 
known  all  down  the  coast  that  there  was  a  pirate  in 
North  Carolina  who  was  committing  depredations 
there  and  was  preparing  to  set  out  on  a  fresh  cruise. 
When  these  tidings  came  to  Charles  Town,  the 
citizens  were  thrown  into  great  agitation.  It  had 
not  been  long  since  Blackbeard  had  visited  their 
harbor,  and  had  treated  them  with  such  brutal  in- 
solence, and  there  were  bold  spirits  in  the  town 
who  declared  that  if  any  effort  by  them  could  pre- 
vent another  visitation  of  the  pirates,  that  effort 
should  be  made.  There  was  no  naval  force  in  the 
harbor  which  could  be  sent  out  to  meet  the  pirates, 
who  were  coming  down  the  coast ;  but  Mr.  William 
Rhett,  a  private  gentleman  of  position  in  the  place, 
went  to  the  Governor  and  offered  to  fit  out,  at 
his  own  expense,  an  expedition  for  the  purpose 
of  turning  away  from  their  city  the  danger  which 
threatened  it. 


Chapter   XXVI 
The  Battle  of  the  Sand  Bars 

WHEN  that  estimable  private  gentleman, 
Mr.  William  Rhett,  of  Charles  Town, 
had  received  a  commission  from  the  Gov- 
ernor to  go  forth  on  his  own  responsibility  and  meet 
the  dreaded  pirate,  the  news  of  whose  depredations 
had  thrown  the  good  citizens  into  such  a  fever  of 
apprehension,  he  took  possession,  in  the  name  of 
the  law,  of  two  large  sloops,  the  Henry  and  the  Sea- 
Nymph^  which  were  in  the  harbor,  and  at  his  own 
expense  he  manned  them  with  well-armed  crews,  and 
put  on  board  of  each  of  them  eight  small  cannon. 
When  everything  was  ready,  Mr.  Rhett  was  in  com- 
mand of  a  very  formidable  force  for  those  waters, 
and  if  he  had  been  ready  to  sail  a  few  days  sooner, 
he  would  have  had  an  opportunity  of  giving  his 
men  some  practice  in  fighting  pirates  before  they 
met  the  particular  and  more  important  sea-robber 
whom  they  had  set  out  to  encounter.  Just  as  his 
vessel  was  ready  to  sail,  Mr.  Rhett  received  news 
that  a  pirate  ship  had  captured  two  or  three  mer- 

233 


234     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

chantmen  just  outside  the  harbor,  and  he  put  out  to 
sea  with  all  possible  haste  and  cruised  up  and  down 
the  coast  for  some  time,  but  he  did  not  find  this 
most  recent  depredator,  who  had  departed  very 
promptly  when  he  heard  that  armed  ships  were 
coming  out  of  the  harbor. 

Now  Mr.  Rhett,  who  was  no  more  of  a  sailor 
than  Stede  Bonnet  had  been  when  he  first  began  his 
seafaring  life,  boldly  made  his  way  up  the  coast  to 
the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River,  where  he  had  been 
told  the  pirate  vessel  was  lying.  When  he  reached 
his  destination,  Mr.  Rhett  found  that  it  would  not 
be  an  easy  thing  to  ascend  the  river,  for  the  reason 
that  the  pilots  he  had  brought  with  him  knew 
nothing  about  the  waters  of  that  part  of  the  coast, 
and  although  the  two  ships  made  their  way  very 
cautiously,  it  was  not  long  after  they  had  entered  the 
river  before  they  got  out  of  the  channel,  and  it  being 
low  tide,  both  of  them  ran  aground  upon  sand  bars. 

This  was  a  very  annoying  accident,  but  it  was 
not  disastrous,  for  the  sailing  masters  who  com- 
manded the  sloops  knew  very  well  that  when  the 
tide  rose,  their  vessels  would  float  again.  But  it  pre- 
vented Mr.  Rhett  from  going  on  and  making  an 
immediate  attack  upon  the  pirate  vessel,  the  top- 
masts of  which  could  be  plainly  seen  behind  a  high 
headland  some  distance  up  the  river. 

Of  course  Bonnet,  or  Captain  Thomas,  as  he  now 


The  Battle  of  the  Sand  Bars  235 

chose  to  be  called,  soon  became  aware  of  the  fact 
that  two  good-sized  vessels  were  lying  aground  near 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  having  a  very  natural 
curiosity  to  see  what  sort  of  craft  they  were,  he 
waited  until  nightfall  and  then  sent  three  armed 
boats  to  make  observations.  When  these  boats 
returned  to  the  Royal  James  and  reported  that  the 
grounded  vessels  were  not  well-loaded  trading  craft, 
but  large  sloops  full  of  men  and  armed  with  cannon. 
Bonnet  (for  we  prefer  to  call  him  by  his  old  name) 
had  good  reason  to  fold  his  arms,  knit  his  brows, 
and  strut  up  and  down  the  deck.  He  was  sure  that 
the  armed  vessels  came  from  Charles  Town,  and  there 
was  no  reason  to  doubt  that  if  the  Governor  of 
South  Carolina  had  sent  two  ships  against  him  the 
matter  was  a  very  serious  one.  He  was  penned 
up  in  the  river,  he  had  only  one  fighting  vessel  to 
contend  against  two,  and  if  he  could  not  succeed  in 
getting  out  to  sea  before  he  should  be  attacked  by 
the  Charles  Town  ships,  there  would  be  but  little 
chance  of  his  continuing  in  his  present  line  of 
business.  If  the  Royal  James  had  been  ready  to 
sail,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Bonnet  would  have 
taken  his  chance  of  finding  the  channel  in  the  dark, 
and  would  have  sailed  away  that  night  without 
regard  to  the  cannonading  which  might  have  been 
directed  against  him  from  the  two  stranded  vessels. 
But  as  it  was  impossible   to  get  ready   to   sail, 


236     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Bonnet  went  to  work  with  the  greatest  energy  to  get 
ready  to  fight.  He  knew  that  when  the  tide  rose 
there  would  be  two  armed  sloops  afloat,  and  that 
there  would  be  a  regular  naval  battle  on  the  quiet 
waters  of  Cape  Fear  River.  All  night  his  men 
worked  to  clear  the  decks  and  get  everything  in 
order  for  the  coming  combat,  and  all  night  Mr. 
Rhett  and  his  crews  kept  a  sharp  watch  for  any 
unexpected  move  of  the  enemy,  while  they  loaded 
their  guns,  their  pistols,  and  their  cannon,  and  put 
everything  in  order  for  action. 

Very  early  in  the  morning  the  wide-awake  crews 
of  the  South  Carolina  vessels,  which  were  now  afloat 
and  at  anchor,  saw  that  the  topmasts  of  the  pirate 
craft  were  beginning  to  move  above  the  distant 
headland,  and  very  soon  Bonnet's  ship  came  out 
into  view,  under  full  sail,  and  as  she  veered  around 
they  saw  that  she  was  coming  toward  them.  Up 
went  the  anchors  and  up  went  the  sails  of  the 
Henry  and  the  Sea-Nymph^  and  the  naval  battle 
between  the  retired  army  officer  who  had  almost 
learned  to  be  a  sailor,  and  the  private  gentleman 
from  South  Carolina,  who  knew  nothing  whatever 
about  managing  ships,  was  about  to  begin. 

It  was  plain  to  the  South  Carolinians  that  the 
great  object  of  the  pirate  captain  was  to  get  out  to 
sea  just  as  soon  as  he  could,  and  that  he  was  coming 
down  the  river,  not  because  he  wished  to  make  an 


The  Battle  of  the  Sand  Bars  237 

immediate  attack  upon  them,  but  because  he  hoped 
to  sHp  by  them  and  get  away.  Of  course  they 
could  follow  him  upon  the  ocean  and  fight  him  if 
their  vessels  were  fast  enough,  but  once  out  of  the 
river  with  plenty  of  sea-room,  he  would  have  twenty 
chances  of  escape  where  now  he  had  one. 

But  Mr.  Rhett  did  not  intend  that  the  pirates 
should  play  him  this  little  trick;  he  wanted  to  fight 
the  dastardly  wretches  in  the  river,  where  they 
could  not  get  away,  and  he  had  no  idea  of  letting 
them  sneak  out  to  sea.  Consequently  as  the  Royal 
James,  under  full  sail,  was  making  her  way  down 
the  river,  keeping  as  far  as  possible  from  her  two 
enemies,  Mr.  Rhett  ordered  his  ships  to  bear  down 
upon  her  so  as  to  cut  off  her  retreat  and  force  her 
toward  the  opposite  shore  of  the  river.  This  ma- 
noeuvre was  performed  with  great  success.  The  two 
Charles  Town  sloops  sailed  so  boldly  and  swiftly 
toward  the  Royal  James  that  the  latter  was  obliged 
to  hug  the  shore,  and  the  first  thing  the  pirates 
knew  they  were  stuck  fast  and  tight  upon  a  sand  bar. 
Three  minutes  afterward  the  Henry  ran  upon  a 
sand  bar,  and  there  being  enough  of  these  obstruc- 
tions in  that  river  to  satisfy  any  ordinary  demand, 
the  Sea-Nymph  very  soon  grounded  herself  upon 
another  of  them.  But  unfortunately  she  took  up 
her  permanent  position  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  her  consort. 


238     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Here  now  were  the  vessels  which  were  to  conduct 
this  memorable  sea-fight,  all  three  fast  in  the  sand 
and  unable  to  move,  and  their  predicament  was 
made  the  worse  by  the  fact  that  it  would  be  five 
hours  before  the  tide  would  rise  high  enough  for 
any  one  of  them  to  float.  The  positions  of  the 
three  vessels  were  very  peculiar  and  awkward ;  the 
Henry  and  the  Royal  James  were  lying  so  near  to 
each  other  that  Mr.  Rhett  could  have  shot  Major 
Bonnet  with  a  pistol  if  the  latter  gentleman  had 
given  him  the  chance,  and  the  Sea-Nymph  was  so 
far  away  that  she  was  entirely  out  of  the  fight,  and 
her  crew  could  do  nothing  but  stand  and  watch 
what  was  going  on  between  the  other  two  vessels. 

But  although  they  could  not  get  any  nearer  each 
other,  nor  get  away  from  each  other,  the  pirates  and 
Mr.  Rhett*s  crew  had  no  idea  of  postponing  the 
battle  until  they  should  be  afloat  and  able  to  fight 
in  the  ordinary  fashion  of  ships ;  they  immediately 
began  to  fire  at  each  other  with  pistols,  muskets,  and 
cannon,  and  the  din  and  roar  was  something  that 
must  have  astonished  the  birds  and  beasts  and  fishes 
of  that  quiet  region. 

As  the  tide  continued  to  run  out  of  the  river,  and 
its  waters  became  more  and  more  shallow,  the  two 
contending  vessels  began  to  careen  over  to  one  side, 
and,  unfortunately  for  the  Henry y  they  both  careened 
in  the  same  direction,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  the 


The  Battle  of  the  Sand  Bars    *         239 

deck  of  the  Royal  James  was  inclined  away  from  the 
Henry^  while  the  deck  of  the  latter  leaned  toward 
her  pirate  foe.  This  gave  a  great  advantage  to 
Bonnet  and  his  crew,  for  they  were  in  a  great  meas- 
ure protected  by  the  hull  of  their  vessel,  whereas 
the  whole  deck  of  the  Henry  was  exposed  to  the  fire 
of  the  pirates.  But  Mr.  Rhett  and  his  South 
Carolinians  were  all  brave  men,  and  they  blazed 
away  with  their  muskets  and  pistols  at  the  pirates 
whenever  they  could  see  a  head  above  the  rail  of 
the  Royal  James,  while  with  their  cannon  they  kept 
firing  at  the  pirate's  hull. 

For  five  long  hours  the  fight  continued,  but  the 
cannon  carried  by  the  two  vessels  must  have  been 
of  very  small  calibre,  for  if  they  had  been  firing  at 
such  short  range  and  for  such  a  length  of  time  with 
modern  guns,  they  must  have  shattered  each  other 
into  kindling  wood.  But  neither  vessel  seems 
to  have  been  seriously  injured,  and  although  there 
were  a  good  many  men  killed  on  both  sides,  the 
combat  was  kept  up  with  great  determination  and 
fury.  At  one  time  it  seemed  almost  certain  that 
Bonnet  would  get  the  better  of  Mr.  Rhett,  and  he 
ordered  his  black  flag  waved  contemptuously  in  the 
air  while  his  men  shouted  to  the  South  Carolinians 
to  come  over  and  call  upon  them,  but  the  South 
Carolina  boys  answered  these  taunts  with  cheers 
and  fired  away  more  furiously  than  ever. 


240     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

The  tide  was  now  coming  in,  and  everybody  on 
board  the  two  fighting  vessels  knew  very  well  that 
the  first  one  of  them  which  should  float  would  have 
a  great  advantage  over  the  other,  and  would  probably 
be  the  conqueror.  In  came  the  tide,  and  still  the 
cannons  roared  and  the  muskets  cracked,  while  the 
hearts  of  the  pirates  and  the  South  Carolinians 
almost  stood  still  as  they  each  watched  the  other 
vessel  to  see  if  she  showed  any  signs  of  floating. 

At  last  such  signs  were  seen ;  the  Henry  was  fur- 
ther from  the  shore  than  the  Royal  JameSy  and  she 
first  felt  the  influence  of  the  rising  waters.  Her 
masts  began  to  straighten,  and  at  last  her  deck  was 
level,  and  she  floated  clear  of  the  bottom  while  her 
antagonist  still  lay  careened  over  on  her  side.  Now 
the  pirates  saw  there  was  no  chance  for  them ;  in  a 
very  short  time  the  other  Carolina  sloop  would  be 
afloat,  and  then  the  two  vessels  would  bear  down 
upon  them  and  utterly  destroy  both  them  and  their 
vessel.  Consequently  upon  the  Royal  James  there 
was  a  general  disposition  to  surrender  and  to  make 
the  best  terms  they  could,  for  it  would  be  a  great 
deal  better  to  submit  and  run  the  chance  of  a  trial 
than  to  keep  up  the  fight  against  enemies  so  much 
superior  both  in  numbers  and  ships,  who  would 
soon  be  upon  them. 

But  Bonnet  would  not  listen  to  one  word  of 
surrender.     Rather  than  give  up  the  fight  he  de- 


The  Battle  of  the  Sand  Bars  241 

clared  he  would  set  fire  to  the  powder  magazine  of 
the  Royal  James  and  blow  himself,  his  ship,  and  his 
men  high  up  into  the  air.  Although  he  had  not  a 
sailor's  skill,  he  possessed  a  soldier's  soul,  and  in 
spite  of  his  being  a  dastardly  and  cruel  pirate  he  was 
a  brave  man.  But  Bonnet  was  only  one,  and  his 
crew  numbered  dozens,  and  notwithstanding  his  furi- 
ously dissenting  voice  it  was  determined  to  surren- 
der, and  when  Mr.  Rhett  sailed  up  to  the  Royal 
James^  intending  to  board  her  if  the  pirates  still 
showed  resistance,  he  found  them  ready  to  submit 
to  terms  and  to  yield  themselves  his  prisoners. 

Thus  ended  the  great  sea-fight  between  the  private 
gentlemen,  and  thus  ended  Stede  Bonnet's  career. 
He  and  his  men  were  taken  to  Charles  Town,  where 
most  of  the  pirate  crew  were  tried  and  executed. 
The  green-hand  pirate,  who  had  wrought  more 
devastation  along  the  American  coast  than  many  a 
skilled  sea-robber,  was  held  in  custody  to  await  his 
trial,  and  it  seems  very  strange  that  there  should 
have  been  a  public  sentiment  in  Charles  Town  which 
induced  the  officials  to  treat  this  pirate  with  a  certain 
degree  of  respect  simply  from  the  fact  that  his  station 
in  life  had  been  that  of  a  gentleman.  He  was  a 
much  more  black-hearted  scoundrel  than  any  of  his 
men,  but  they  were  executed  as  soon  as  possible 
while  his  trial  was  postponed  and  he  was  allowed 
privileges  which  would  never  have  been  accorded  a 


242     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

common  pirate.  In  consequence  of  this  leniency  he 
escaped  and  had  to  be  retaken  by  Mr.  Rhett.  It 
was  so  long  before  he  was  tried  that  sympathy  for 
his  misfortunes  arose  among  some  of  the  tender- 
hearted citizens  of  Charles  Town  whose  houses  he 
would  have  pillaged  and  whose  families  he  would 
have  murdered  if  the  exigencies  of  piracy  had  ren- 
dered such  action  desirable. 

Finding  that  other  people  were  trying  to  save  his 
life,  Bonnet  came  down  from  his  high  horse  and  tried 
to  save  it  himself  by  writing  piteous  letters  to  the 
Governor,  begging  for  mercy.  But  the  Governor 
of  South  Carolina  had  no  notion  of  sparing  a  pirate 
who  had  deliberately  put  himself  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  law  in  order  that  he  might  better  pursue 
his  lawless  and  wicked  career,  and  the  green  hand, 
with  the  black  heart,  was  finally  hung  on  the  same 
spot  where  his  companions  had  been  executed. 


Chapter  XXVII 
A  Six  Weeks'  Pirate 

ABOUT  the  time  of  Stede  Bonnet's  terminal 
adventures  a  very  unpretentious  pirate 
-  made  his  appearance  in  the  waters  of  New 
York.  This  was  a  man  named  Richard  Worley, 
who  set  himself  up  in  piracy  in  a  very  small  way, 
but  who,  by  a  strict  attention  to  business,  soon 
achieved  a  remarkable  success.  He  started  out  as 
a  scourge  upon  the  commerce  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
with  only  an  open  boat  and  eight  men.  In  this 
small  craft  he  went  down  the  coast  of  New  Jersey 
taking  everything  he  could  from  fishing  boats  and 
small  trading  vessels  until  he  reached  Delaware  Bay, 
and  here  he  made  a  bold  stroke  and  captured  a 
good-sized  sloop. 

When  this  piratical  outrage  was  reported  at  Phila- 
delphia, it  created  a  great  sensation,  and  people  talked 
about  it  until  the  open  boat  with  nine  men  grew 
into  a  great  pirate  ship  filled  with  roaring  despera- 
does and  cutthroats.  From  Philadelphia  the  news 
was  sent  to  New  York,  and  that  government  was 

243 


244     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

warned  of  the  great  danger  which  threatened  the 
coast.  As  soon  as  this  alarming  intelligence  was 
received,  the  New  Yorkers  set  to  work  to  get  up  an 
expedition  which  should  go  out  to  sea  and  endeavor 
to  destroy  the  pirate  vessel  before  it  could  enter 
their  port,  and  work  havoc  among  their  merchant- 
men. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  a  small  open  boat  with 
nine  men  could  stir  up  such  a  commotion  in  these 
two  great  provinces  of  North  America,  but  if  we  can 
try  to  imagine  the  effect  which  would  be  produced 
among  the  inhabitants  of  Staten  Island,  or  in  the 
hearts  of  the  dwellers  in  the  beautiful  houses  on  the 
shores  of  the  Delaware  River,  by  the  announcement 
that  a  boat  carrying  nine  desperate  burglars  was  to 
be  expected  in  their  neighborhood,  we  can  better 
understand  what  the  people  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  thought  when  they  heard  that  Worley 
had  captured  a  sloop  in  Delaware  Bay. 

The  expedition  which  left  New  York  made  a  very 
unsuccessful  cruise.  It  sailed  for  days  and  days, 
but  never  saw  a  sign  of  a  boat  containing  nine  men, 
and  it  returned  disappointed  and  obliged  to  report 
no  progress.  With  Worley,  however,  progress  had 
been  very  decided.  He  captured  another  sloop,  and 
this  being  a  large  one  and  suitable  to  his  purposes, 
he  took  possession  of  it,  gave  up  his  open  boat,  and 
fitted  out  his  prize  as  a  regular  piratical  craft.    With 


A  Six  Weeks'  Pirate  245 

a  good  ship  under  his  command,  Captain  Worley 
now  enlarged  his  sphere  of  action ;  on  both  shores 
of  Delaware  Bay,  and  along  the  coast  of  New  Jersey, 
he  captured  everything  which  came  in  his  way,  and 
for  about  three  weeks  he  made  the  waters  in  those 
regions  very  hot  for  every  kind  of  peaceable  com- 
mercial craft.  If  Worley  had  been  in  trade,  his 
motto  would  have  been  "Quick  sales  and  small 
profits,"  for  by  day  and  by  night,  the  New  Tork's 
Revenge^  which  was  the  name  he  gave  to  his  new 
vessel,  cruised  east  and  west  and  north  and  south, 
losing  no  opportunity  of  levying  contributions  of 
money,  merchandise,  food,  and  drink  upon  any 
vessel,  no  matter  how  insignificant  it  might  be. 

The  Philadelphians  now  began  to  tremble  in  their 
shoes ;  for  if  a  boat  had  so  quickly  grown  into  a 
sloop,  the  sloop  might  grow  into  a  fleet,  and  they 
had  all  heard  of  Porto  Bello,  and  the  deeds  of  the 
bloody  buccaneers.  The  Governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
recognizing  the  impending  danger  and  the  necessity 
of  prompt  action,  sent  to  Sandy  Hook,  where  there 
was  a  British  man-of-war,  the  Phoenix^  and  urged 
that  this  vessel  should  come  down  into  Delaware 
Bay  and  put  an  end  to  the  pirate  ship  which  was 
ravaging  those  waters.  Considering  that  Worley 
had  not  been  engaged  in  piracy  for  much  more  than 
four  weeks,  he  had  created  a  reputation  for  enter- 
prise and  industry,  which  gave  him  a  very  important 


246     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

position  as  a  commerce  destroyer,  and  a  large  man- 
of-war  did  not  think  that  he  was  too  small  game  for 
her  to  hunt  down,  and  so  she  set  forth  to  capture  or 
destroy  the  audacious  Worley.  But  never  a  Worley 
of  any  kind  did  she  see.  While  the  Phoenix  was 
sailing  along  the  coast,  examining  all  the  coves  and 
harbors  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  the  New 
York's  Revenge  put  out  to  sea,  and  then  proceeded 
southward  to  discover  a  more  undisturbed  field  of 
operation. 

We  will  now  leave  Worley*s  vessel  sailing 
southward,  and  go  for  a  time  to  Charles  Town, 
where  some  very  important  events  were  taking 
place.  The  Governor  of  South  Carolina  had  been 
very  much  afraid  that  the  pirates  in  general  would 
take  some  sort  of  revenge  for  the  capture  of  Stede 
Bonnet,  who  was  then  in  prison  awaiting  trial,  and 
that  if  he  should  be  executed,  Charles  Town  might 
be  visited  by  an  overpowering  piratical  force,  and 
he  applied  to  England  to  have  a  war-vessel  sent  to 
the  harbor.  But  before  any  relief  of  this  kind 
could  be  expected,  news  came  to  Charles  Town 
that  already  a  celebrated  pirate,  named  Moody,  was 
outside  of  the  harbor,  capturing  merchant  vessels, 
and  it  might  be  that  he  was  only  waiting  for  the 
arrival  of  other  pirate  ships  to  sail  into  the  harbor 
and  rescue  Bonnet. 

Now  the  Charles  Town  citizens  saw  that  they 


A  Six  Weeksf*  Pirate  247 

must  again  act  for  themselves,  and  not  depend 
upon  the  home  government.  If  there  were  pirates 
outside  the  harbor,  they  must  be  met  and  fought 
before  they  could  come  up  to  the  city;  and  the 
Governor  and  the  Council  decided  immediately  to 
fit  out  a  little  fleet.  Four  merchant  vessels  were 
quickly  provided  with  cannon,  ammunition,  and 
men,  and  the  command  of  this  expedition  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  given  to  Mr.  Rhett  had  it 
not  been  that  he  and  the  Governor  had  quarrelled. 
There  being  no  naval  officers  in  Charles  Town, 
their  fighting  vessels  had  to  be  commanded  by 
civilians,  and  Governor  Johnson  now  determined 
that  he  would  try  his  hand  at  carrying  on  a  sea- 
fight.  Mr.  Rhett  had  done  very  well ;  why  should 
not  he  ? 

Before  the  Governor's  little  fleet  of  vessels,  one  of 
which  was  the  Royal  James^  captured  from  Bonnet, 
was  quite  ready  to  sail,  the  Governor  received  news 
that  his  preparations  had  not  been  made  a  moment 
too  soon,  for  already  two  vessels,  one  a  large  ship, 
and  the  other  an  armed  sloop,  had  come  into  the 
outer  harbor,  and  were  lying  at  anchor  off  Sullivan's 
Island.  It  was  very  likely  that  Moody,  having 
returned  from  some  outside  operation,  was  waiting 
there  for  the  arrival  of  other  pirate  ships,  and  that 
it  was  an  important  thing  to  attack  him  at  once. 

As  it  was  very  desirable  that  the  pirates  should 


248     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

not  be  frightened  away  before  the  Charles  Town 
fleet  could  reach  them,  the  vessels  of  the  latter  were 
made  to  look  as  much  like  mere  merchantmen  as 
possible.  Their  cannon  were  covered,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  crews  was  kept  below,  out  of 
sight.  Thus  the  four  ships  came  sailing  down  the 
bay,  and  early  in  the  morning  made  their  appear- 
ance in  the  sight  of  the  pirates.  When  the  ship 
and  the  big  sloop  saw  the  four  merchant  vessels 
sailing  quietly  out  of  the  harbor,  they  made  imme- 
diate preparations  to  capture  them.  Anchors  were 
weighed,  sails  were  set,  and  with  a  black  flag  flying 
from  the  topmast  of  each  vessel,  the  pirates  steered 
toward  the  Charles  Town  fleet,  and  soon  approached 
near  enough  to  the  King  William^  which  was  the 
foremost  of  the  fleet,  to  call  upon  her  captain  to 
surrender.  But  at  that  moment  Governor  Johnson, 
who  was  on  board  the  Mediterranean^  and  could  hear 
the  insolent  pirate  shouting  through  his  speaking- 
trumpet,  gave  a  preconcerted  signal.  Instantly 
everything  was  changed.  The  covers  were  jerked 
off*  from  the  cannon  of  the  pretended  merchantmen, 
armed  men  poured  up  out  of  the  holds,  the  flag  of 
England  was  quickly  raised  on  each  one  of  them, 
and  the  sixty-eight  guns  of  the  combined  fleet 
opened  fire  upon  the  astonished  pirates. 

The  ship  which  seemed  to  be  the  more  formi- 
dable of  the  enemy's  vessels  had  run  up  so  close  to 


A  Six  Weeks*  Pirate  249 

her  intended  prey  that  two  of  Governor  Johnson's 
vessels,  the  Sea-Nymph  and  the  Royal  James^  once 
so  bitterly  opposed  to  each  other,  but  now  fighting 
together  in  honest  comradeship,  were  able  to  go 
between  her  and  the  open  sea  and  so  cut  off  her 
retreat. 

But  if  the  captain  of  the  pirate  ship  could  not  get 
away,  he  showed  that  he  was  very  well  able  to  fight, 
and  although  the  two  vessels  which  had  made  him 
the  object  of  their  attack  were  pouring  cannon  balls 
and  musket  shot  upon  him,  he  blazed  away  with 
his  cannon  and  his  muskets.  The  three  vessels 
were  so  near  each  other  that  sometimes  their  yard- 
arms  almost  touched,  so  that  this  terrible  fight  seemed 
almost  like  a  hand-to-hand  conflict.  For  four  hours 
the  roaring  of  the  cannon,  the  crushing  of  timbers, 
the  almost  continuous  discharge  of  musketry  were 
kept  up,  while  the  smoke  of  the  battle  frequently 
almost  prevented  the  crews  of  the  contending  ships 
from  seeing  each  other.  Not  so  very  far  away  the 
people  of  Charles  Town,  who  were  standing  on  the 
shores  of  their  beautiful  harbor,  could  see  the  fierce 
fight  which  was  going  on,  and  great  was  the  excite- 
ment and  anxiety  throughout  the  city. 

But  the  time  came  when  two  ships  grew  too 
much  for  one,  and  as  the  Royal  James  and  the  Sea- 
Nymph  were  able  to  take  positions  by  which  they 
could  rake  the  deck  of  the  pirate  vessel,  many  of 


250     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

her  men  gave  up  the  fight  and  rushed  down  into 
the  hold  to  save  their  lives.  Then  both  the  Charles 
Town  vessels  bore  down  upon  the  pirate  and 
boarded  her,  and  now  there  was  another  savage 
battle  with  pistols  and  cutlasses.  The  pirate  cap- 
tain and  several  of  his  crew  were  still  on  deck, 
and  they  fought  like  wounded  lions,  and  it  was  not 
until  they  had  all  been  cut  down  or  shot  that  victory 
came  to  the  men  of  Charles  Town. 

Very  soon  after  this  terrible  battle  was  over  the 
waiting  crowds  in  the  city  saw  a  glorious  sight ;  the 
pirate  ship  came  sailing  slowly  up  the  harbor,  a  capt- 
ured vessel,  with  the  Sea-Nymph  on  one  side  and  the 
Royal  James  on  the  other,  the  colors  of  the  Crown 
flying  from  the  masts  of  each  one  of  the  three. 

The  other  pirate  ship,  which  was  quite  large, 
seemed  to  be  more  fortunate  than  her  companion, 
for  she  was  able  to  get  out  to  sea,  and  spreading  all 
her  sails  she  made  every  effort  to  escape.  Gov- 
ernor Johnson,  however,  had  no  idea  of  letting  her 
get  away  if  he  could  help  it.  When  a  civilian  goes 
out  to  fight  a  sea-battle  he  naturally  wants  to  show 
what  he  can  do,  and  Governor  Johnson  did  not  mean 
to  let  people  think  that  Mr.  Rhett  was  a  better 
naval  commander  than  he  was.  He  ordered  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  King  William  to  put  on  all 
sail,  and  away  they  went  after  the  big  ship.  The 
retreating  pirates  did  everything  they  could  to  effect 


A  Six  Weeks'  Pirate  251 

escape,  throwing  over  their  cannon,  and  even  their 
boats,  in  order  to  lighten  their  ship,  but  it  was  of  no 
use.  The  Governor's  vessels  were  the  faster  sailers, 
and  when  the  King  William  got  near  enough  to  fire 
a  few  cannon  balls  into  the  flying  ship,  the  latter 
hauled  down  the  black  flag  and  without  hesitation 
lay  to  and  surrendered. 

It  was  plain  enough  that  this  ship  was  not  manned 
by  desperate  pirates,  and  when  Governor  Johnson 
went  on  board  of  her  he  found  her  to  be  not  really 
a  pirate  ship,  but  an  English  vessel  which  not  long 
before  had  been  captured  by  the  pirates  in  whose 
company  she  had  visited  Charles  Town  harbor. 
She  had  been  bringing  over  from  England  a  com- 
pany of  convicts  and  what  were  called  "  covenant 
servants,"  who  were  going  to  the  colonies  to  be  dis- 
posed of  to  the  planters  for  a  term  of  years. 
Among  these  were  thirty-six  women,  and  when  the 
South  Carolinians  went  below  they  were  greatly 
surprised  to  find  the  hold  crowded  with  these  unfort- 
unate creatures,  some  of  whom  were  nearly  fright- 
ened to  death.  At  the  time  of  this  vessel's  capture 
the  pirate  captain  had  enlisted  some  of  the  convicts 
into  his  crew,  as  he  needed  men,  and  putting  on 
board  of  his  prize  a  few  pirates  to  command  her, 
the  ship  had  been  worked  by  such  of  her  own  crew 
and  passengers  as  were  willing  to  serve  under 
pirates,  while  the  others  were  shut  up  below. 


252     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Here  was  a  fine  prize  taken  with  very  little  trou- 
ble, and  the  King  William  and  the  Mediterranean 
returned  to  Charles  Town  with  their  captured  ship, 
to  be  met  with  the  shouts  and  cheers  of  the  delighted 
citizens,  already  excited  to  a  high  pitch  by  the  pre- 
vious arrival  of  the  captured  pirate  sloop. 

But  Governor  Johnson  met  with  something  else 
which  made  a  stronger  impression  on  him  than  the 
cheers  of  his  townspeople,  and  this  was  the  great 
surprise  of  finding  that  he  had  not  fought  and 
conquered  the  pirate  Moody ;  without  suspecting 
such  a  thing,  he  had  crushed  and  utterly  annihilated 
the  dreaded  Worley,  whose  deeds  had  created  such 
a  consternation  in  northern  waters,  and  whose  threat- 
ened approach  had  sent  a  thrill  of  excitement  all 
down  the  coast.  When  this  astonishing  news  be- 
came known,  the  flags  of  the  city  were  waved  more 
wildly,  and  the  shouts  and  cheers  rose  higher. 

Thus  came  to  an  end,  in  the  short  time  of  six 
weeks,  the  career  of  Richard  Worley,  who,  without 
doubt,  did  more  piratical  work  in  less  time  than  any 
sea-robber  on  record. 


Chapter  XXVIII 
The  Story  of  Two  Women  Pirates 

THE  history  of  the  world  gives  us  many  in- 
stances  of  women  who  have  taken  the  parts 
of  men,  almost  always  acquitting  them- 
selves with  as  much  credit  as  if  they  had  really 
belonged  to  the  male  sex,  and,  in  our  modern  days, 
these  instances  are  becoming  more  frequent  than 
ever  before.  Joan  of  Arc  put  on  a  suit  of  armor 
and  bravely  led  an  army,  and  there  have  been  many 
other  fighting  women  who  made  a  reputation  for 
themselves  ;  but  it  is  very  seldom  that  we  hear  of  a 
woman  who  became  a  pirate.  There  were,  how- 
ever, two  women  pirates  who  made  themselves  very 
well  known  on  our  coast. 

The  most  famous  of  these  women  pirates  was 
named  Mary  Ree  Her  father  was  an  English 
captain  of  a  trading  vescel,  and  her  mother  sailed 
with  him.  This  mother  had  had  an  elder  child,  a 
son,  and  she  also  had  a  mother-in-law  in  England 
from  whom  she  expected  great  things  for  her  little 
boy.     But   the  boy   died,  and    Mrs.    Reed,  being 

253 


254     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

afraid  that  her  mother-in-law  would  not  be  willing 
to  leave  any  property  to  a  girl,  determined  to  play  a 
little  trick,  and  make  believe  that  her  second  child 
was  also  a  boy. 

Consequently,  as  soon  as  the  little  girl,  who,  from 
her  birth  had  been  called  Mary  by  her  father  and 
mother,  was  old  enough  to  leave  off  baby  clothes, 
she  put  on  boy's  clothes,  and  when  the  family  re- 
turned to  England  a  nice  little  boy  appeared  before 
his  grandmother ;  but  all  this  deception  amounted 
to  nothing,  for  the  old  lady  died  without  leaving 
anything  to  the  pretended  boy.  Mary's  mother 
believed  that  her  child  would  get  along  better  in  the 
world  as  a  boy  than  she  would  as  a  girl,  and  there- 
fore she  still  dressed  her  in  masculine  clothes,  and 
put  her  out  to  service  as  a  foot-boy,  or  one  of  those 
youngsters  who  now  go  by  the  name  of  "  Buttons." 

But  Mary  did  not  fancy  blacking  boots  and  run- 
ning errands.  She  was  very  well  satisfied  to  be  a 
boy,  but  she  wanted  to  live  the  kind  of  a  boy's  life 
which  would  please  her  fancy,  and  as  she  thought 
life  on  the  ocean  wave  would  suit  her  very  well,  she 
ran  away  from  her  employer's  house  and  enlisted  on 
board  a  man-of-war  as  a  powder  monkey. 

After  a  short  time,  Mary  found  that  the  ocean 
was  not  all  that  she  expected  it  to  be,  and  when  she 
had  grown  up  so  that  she  looked  like  a  good  strap- 
ping fellow,  she  ran  away  from  the  man-of-war  when 


The  Story  of  Two  Women  Pirates       255 

it  was  in  an  English  port,  and  went  to  Flanders, 
and  there  she  thought  she  would  try  something  new, 
and  see  whether  or  not  she  would  like  a  soldier's 
life  better  than  that  of  a  sailor.  She  enlisted  in  a 
regiment  of  foot,  and  in  the  course  of  time  she 
became  a  very  good  soldier  and  took  part  in  several 
battles,  firing  her  musket  and  charging  with  her 
bayonet  as  well  as  any  of  the  men  beside  her. 

But  there  is  a  great  deal  of  hard  work  connected 
with  infantry  service,  and  although  she  was  eager 
for  the  excitement  of  battle  with  the  exhilarating 
smell  of  powder  and  the  cheering  shouts  of  her 
fellow-soldiers,  Mary  did  not  fancy  tramping  on 
long  marches,  carrying  her  heavy  musket  and  knap- 
sack. She  goc  herself  changed  into  a  regiment  of 
cavalry,  and  here,  mounted  upon  a  horse,  with  the  ' 
encumbrances  she  disliked  to  carry  comfortably 
strapped  behind  her,  Mary  felt  much  more  at  ease, 
and  much  better  satisfied.  But  she  was  not  destined 
to  achieve  fame  as  a  dashing  cavalry  man  with  foam- 
ing steed  and  flashing  sabre.  One  of  her  comrades 
was  a  very  prepossessing  young  fellow,  and  Mary 
fell  in  love  with  him,  and  when  she  told  him  she 
was  not  really  a  cavalry  man  but  a  cavalry  woman, 
he  returned  her  affection,  and  the  two  agreed  that 
they  would  quit  the  army,  and  set  up  domestic  life 
as  quiet  civilians.  They  were  married,  and  went 
into  the  tavern-keeping  business.     They  were  both 


256     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

fond  of  horses,  and  did  not  wish  to  sever  all  con< 
nection  with  the  method  of  life  they  had  just  given 
up,  and  so  they  called  their  little  inn  the  Three 
Horse  Shoes,  and  were  always  glad  when  any  one 
of  their  customers  came  riding  up  to  their  stables, 
instead  of  simply  walking  in  their  door. 

But  this  domestic  life  did  not  last  very  long. 
Mary's  husband  died,  and,  not  wishing  to  keep  a 
tavern  by  herself,  she  again  put  on  the  dress  of  a 
man  and  enlisted  as  a  soldier.  But  her  military 
experience  did  not  satisfy  her,  and  after  all  she 
believed  that  she  liked  the  sea  better  than  the  land, 
and  again  she  shipped  as  a  sailor  on  a  vessel  bound 
for  the  West  Indies. 

Now  Mary's  desire  for  change  and  variety  seemed 
likely  to  be  fully  satisfied.  The  ship  was  taken  by 
English  pirates,  and  as  she  was  English  and  looked 
as  if  she  would  make  a  good  freebooter,  they  com- 
pelled her  to  join  them,  and  thus  it  was  that  she  got 
her  first  idea  of  a  pirate's  life.  When  this  company 
disbanded,  she  went  to  New  Providence  and  enlisted 
on  a  privateer,  but,  as  was  very  common  on  such  ves- 
sels commissioned  to  perform  acts  of  legal  piracy,  the 
crew  soon  determined  that  illegal  piracy  was  much 
preferable,  so  they  hoisted  the  black  flag,  and  began 
to  scourge  the  seas. 

Mary  Reed  was  now  a  regular  pirate,  with  a  cut- 
lass, pistol,  and  every  outward  appearance  of  a  dar- 


The  Story  of  Two  Women  Pirates       257 

ing  sea-robber,  except  that  she  wore  no  bristling 
beard,  but  as  her  face  was  sunburned  and  seamed 
by  the  weather,  she  looked  mannish  enough  to 
frighten  the  senses  out  of  any  unfortunate  trader 
on  whose  deck  she  bounded  in  company  with  her 
shouting,  hairy-faced  companions.  It  is  told  of  her 
that  she  did  not  fancy  the  life  of  a  pirate,  but  she 
seemed  to  believe  in  the  principle  of  whatever  is 
worth  doing  is  worth  doing  well ;  she  was  as  ready 
with  her  cutlass  and  her  pistol  as  any  other  ocean 
bandit. 

But  although  Mary  was  a  daring  pirate,  she  was 
also  a  woman,  and  again  she  fell  in  love.  A  very 
pleasant  and  agreeable  sailor  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  crew  of  her  ship,  and  Mary  concluded  that  she 
would  take  him  as  her  portion  of  the  spoils.  Con- 
sequently, at  the  first  port  they  touched  she  became 
again  a  woman  and  married  him,  and  as  they  had 
no  other  present  method  of  livelihood  he  remained 
with  her  on  her  ship.  Mary  and  her  husband  had 
no  real  love  for  a  pirate's  life,  and  they  determined 
to  give  it  up  as  soon  as  possible,  but  the  chance  to 
do  so  did  not  arrive.  Mary  had  a  very  high  re- 
gard for  her  new  husband,  who  was  a  quiet,  amiable 
man,  and  not  at  all  suited  to  his  present  life,  and 
as  he  had  become  a  pirate  for  the  love  of  her,  she 
did  everything  she  could  to  make  life  easy  for 
him. 


258     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

She  even  went  so  far  as  to  fight  a  duel  in  his 
place,  one  of  the  crew  having  insulted  him,  prob- 
ably thinking  him  a  milksop  who  would  not  resent 
an  aflFront.  But  the  latent  courage  of  Mary's  hus- 
band instantly  blazed  up,  and  he  challenged  the 
insulter  to  a  duel.  Although  Mary  thought  her 
husband  was  brave  enough  to  fight  anybody,  she 
thought  that  perhaps,  in  some  ways,  he  was  a  milk- 
sop and  did  not  understand  the  use  of  arms  nearly 
as  well  as  she  did.  Therefore,  she  made  him  stay  on 
board  the  ship  while  she  went  to  a  little  island  near 
where  they  were  anchored  and  fought  the  duel  with 
sword  and  pistol.  The  man  pirate  and  the  woman 
pirate  now  went  savagely  to  work,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  the  man  pirate  lay  dead  upon  the  sand, 
while  Mary  returned  to  an  admiring  crew  and  a 
grateful  husband. 

During  her  piratical  career  Mary  fell  in  with  an- 
other woman  pirate,  Anne  Bonny,  by  name,  and  these 
women,  being  perhaps  the  only  two  of  their  kind, 
became  close  friends.  Anne  came  of  a  good  family. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  an  Irish  lawyer,  who  went 
to  Carolina  and  became  a  planter,  and  there  the 
little  girl  grew  up.  When  her  mother  died  she 
kept  the  house,  but  her  disposition  was  very  much 
more  masculine  than  feminine.  She  was  very  quick- 
tempered and  easily  enraged,  and  it  is  told  of  her 
that  when  an  Englishwoman,  who  was  working  as 


The  Story  of  Two  Women  Pirates       259 

a  servant  in  her  father's  house,  had  irritated  Anne 
by  some  carelessness  or  impertinence,  that  hot- 
tempered  young  woman  sprang  upon  her  and 
stabbed  her  with  a  carving-knife. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Anne  soon  showed  a 
dislike  for  the  humdrum  life  on  a  plantation,  and 
meeting  with  a  young  sailor,  who  owned  nothing 
in  the  world  but  the  becoming  clothes  he  wore,  she 
married  him.  Thereupon  her  father,  who  seems 
to  have  been  as  hot-headed  as  his  daughter,  promptly 
turned  her  out  of  doors.  The  fiery  Anne  was  glad 
enough  to  adopt  her  husband's  life,  and  she  went  to 
sea  with  him,  sailing  to  New  Providence.  There 
she  was  thrown  into  an  entirely  new  circle  of  society. 
Pirates  were  in  the  habit  of  congregating  at  this 
place,  and  Anne  was  greatly  delighted  with  the 
company  of  these  daring,  dashing  sea-robbers,  of 
whose  exploits  she  had  so  often  heard.  The  more 
she  associated  with  the  pirates,  the  less  she  cared  for 
the  plain,  stupid  sailors,  who  were  content  with  the 
merchant  service,  and  she  finally  deserted  her  hus- 
band and  married  a  Captain  Rackham,  one  of  the 
most  attractive  and  dashing  pirates  of  the  day. 

Anne  went  on  board  the  ship  of  her  pirate  hus- 
band, and  as  she  was  sure  his  profession  would 
exactly  suit  her  wild  and  impetuous  nature,  she 
determined  also  to  become  a  pirate.  She  put  on 
man's  clothes,  girded  to  her  side  a  cutlass,  and  hung 


26o     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

pistols  in  her  belt.  During  many  voyages  Anne 
sailed  with  Captain  Rackham,  and  wherever  there 
was  pirate's  work  to  do,  she  was  on  deck  to  do  it. 
At  last  the  gallant  captain  came  to  grief.  He  was 
captured  and  condemned  to  death.  Now  there  was 
an  opportunity  for  Anne's  nature  to  assert  itself, 
and  it  did,  but  it  was  a  very  different  sort  of  nature 
from  that  of  Mary  Reed.  Just  before  his  execu- 
tion Anne  was  admitted  to  see  her  husband,  but 
instead  of  offering  to  do  anything  that  might  com- 
fort him  or  palliate  his  dreadful  misfortune,  she 
simply  stood  and  contemptuously  glared  at  him. 
She  was  sorry,  she  said,  to  see  him  in  such  a  pre- 
dicament, but  she  told  him  plainly  that  if  he  had 
had  the  courage  to  fight  like  a  man,  he  would  not 
then  be  waiting  to  be  hung  like  a  dog,  and  with 
that  she  walked  away  and  left  him. 

On  the  occasion  when  Captain  Rackham  had 
been  captured,  Mary  Reed  and  her  husband  were 
on  board  his  ship,  and  there  was,  perhaps,  some 
reason  for  Anne's  denunciation  of  the  cowardice 
of  Captain  Rackham.  As  has  been  said,  the  two 
women  were  good  friends  and  great  fighters,  and 
when  they  found  the  vessel  engaged  in  a  fight  with 
a  man-of-war,  they  stood  together  upon  the  deck 
and  boldly  fought,  although  the  rest  of  the  crew, 
and  even  the  captain  himself,  were  so  discouraged 
by  the  heavy  fire  which  was  brought  to  bear  on 
them,  that  they  had  retreated  to  the  hold. 


The  Story  of  Two  Women  Pirates       261 

Mary  and  Anne  were  so  disgusted  at  this  exhibi- 
tion of  cowardice,  that  they  rushed  to  the  hatchways 
and  shouted  to  their  dastardly  companions  to  come 
up  and  help  defend  the  ship,  and  when  their  en- 
treaties were  disregarded  they  were  so  enraged  that 
they  fired  down  into  the  hold,  killing  one  of  the 
frightened  pirates  and  wounding  several  others. 
But  their  ship  was  taken,  and  Mary  and  Anne,  in 
company  with  all  the  pirates  who  had  been  left  alive, 
were  put  in  irons  and  carried  to  England. 

When  she  was  in  prison,  Mary  declared  that  she 
and  her  husband  had  firmly  intended  to  give  up 
piracy  and  become  private  citizens.  But  when  she 
was  put  on  trial,  the  accounts  of  her  deeds  had 
a  great  deal  more  effect  than  her  words  upon  her 
judges,  and  she  was  condemned  to  be  executed. 
She  was  saved,  however,  from  this  fate  by  a  fever 
of  which  she  died  soon  after  her  conviction. 

The  impetuous  Anne  was  also  condemned,  but 
the  course  of  justice  is  often  very  curious  and  diffi- 
cult to  understand,  and  this  hard-hearted  and  san- 
guinary woman  was  reprieved  and  finally  pardoned. 
Whether  or  not  she  continued  to  disport  herself 
as  a  man  we  do  not  know,  but  it  is  certain  that  she 
was  the  last  of  the  female  pirates. 

There  are  a  great  many  things  which  women  can 
do  as  well  as  men,  and  there  are  many  professions 
and  lines  of  work  from  which  they  have  been  long 


262     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

debarred,  and  for  which  they  are  most  admirably 
adapted,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  piracy  is  not  one 
of  them.  It  is  said  that  a  woman's  nature  is  apt  to 
carry  her  too  far,  and  I  have  never  heard  of  any  man 
pirate  who  would  allow  himself  to  become  so  en- 
raged against  the  cowardice  of  his  companions  that 
he  would  deliberately  fire  down  into  the  hold  of 
a  vessel  containing  his  wife  and  a  crowd  of  his 
former  associates. 


Chapter   XXIX 
A  Pirate  from  Boyhood 

ABOUT  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury there  lived  in  Westminster,  England, 
a  boy  who  very  early  in  life  made  a  choice 
of  a  future  career.  Nearly  all  boys  have  ideas  upon 
this  subject,  and  while  some  think  they  would  like 
to  be  presidents  or  generals  of  armies,  others  fancy 
that  they  would  prefer  to  be  explorers  of  unknown 
countries  or  to  keep  candy  shops.  But  it  generally 
happens  that  these  youthful  ideas  are  never  carried 
out,  and  that  the  boy  who  would  wish  to  sell  candy 
because  he  likes  to  eat  it,  becomes  a  farmer  on  the 
western  prairie,  where  confectionery  is  never  seen, 
and  the  would-be  general  determines  to  study  for 
the  ministry. 

But  Edward  Low,  the  boy  under  consideration, 
was  a  different  sort  of  a  fellow.  The  life  of  a  robber 
suited  his  youthful  fancy,  and  he  not  only  adopted 
it  at  a  very  early  age,  but  he  stuck  to  it  until  the 
end  of  his  life.  He  was  much  stronger  and  bolder 
than  the  youngsters  with  whom  he  associated,  and 

263 


264     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

he  soon  became  known  among  them  as  a  regulaf 
land  pirate.  If  a  boy  possessed  anything  which 
Ned  Low  desired,  whether  it  happened  to  be  an 
apple,  a  nut,  or  a  farthing,  the  young  robber  gave 
chase  to  him,  and  treated  him  as  a  pirate  treats  a 
merchant  vessel  which  he  has  boarded. 

Not  only  did  young  Low  resemble  a  pirate  in 
his  dishonest  methods,  but  he  also  resembled  one 
in  his  meanness  and  cruelty;  if  one  of  his  vic- 
tims was  supposed  by  him  to  have  hidden  any  of 
the  treasures  which  his  captor  believed  him  to  pos- 
sess. Low  would  inflict  upon  him  every  form  of 
punishment  which  the  ingenuity  of  a  bad  boy  could 
devise,  in  order  to  compel  him  to  confess  where  he 
had  concealed  the  half-penny  which  had  been  given 
to  him  for  holding  a  horse,  or  the  ball  with  which 
he  had  been  seen  playing.  In  the  course  of  time 
this  young  street  pirate  became  a  terror  to  all  boys 
in  that  part  of  London  in  which  he  lived,  and  by 
beginning  so  early  he  acquired  a  great  proficiency 
in  dishonest  and  cruel  practices. 

It  is  likely  that  young  Low  inherited  his  knavish 
disposition,  for  one  of  his  brothers  became  a  very 
bold  and  ingenious  thief,  and  invented  a  new  kind 
of  robbery  which  afterwards  was  popular  in  London. 
This  brother  grew  to  be  a  tall  fellow,  and  it  was  his 
practice  to  dress  himself  like  a  porter, — one  of 
those  men  who  in  those  days  carried  packages  and 


A  Pirate  from  Boyhood  265 

parcels  about  the  city.  On  his  head  he  poised  a 
basket,  and  supporting  this  burden  with  his  hands, 
he  hurriedly  made  his  way  through  the  most  crowded 
streets  of  London. 

The  basket  was  a  heavy  one,  but  it  did  not  con- 
tain any  ordinary  goods,  such  as  merchandise  or 
marketing ;  but  instead  of  these  it  held  a  very  sharp 
and  active  boy  seven  years  old,  one  of  the  younger 
members  of  the  Low  family.  As  the  tall  brother 
pushed  rapidly  here  and  there  among  the  hurrying 
people  on  the  sidewalks,  the  boy  in  the  basket  would 
suddenly  stretch  out  with  his  wiry  young  arm,  and 
snatch  the  hat  or  the  wig  of  some  man  who  might 
pass  near  enough  for  him  to  reach  him.  This  done, 
the  porter  and  his  basket  would  quickly  be  lost  in  the 
crowd ;  and  even  if  the  astonished  citizen,  suddenly 
finding  himself  hatless  and  wigless,  beheld  the  long- 
legged  Low,  he  would  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
that  industrious  man  with  the  basket  on  his  head 
had  anything  to  do  with  the  loss  of  his  head  covering. 

This  new  style  of  street  robbery  must  have  been 
quite  profitable,  for  of  course  the  boy  in  the  basket 
was  well  instructed,  and  never  snatched  at  a  shabby 
hat  or  a  poor  looking  wig.  The  elder  Low  came 
to  have  a  good  many  imitators,  and  it  happened 
in  the  course  of  time  that  many  a  worthy  citizen  of 
London  wished  there  were  some  harmless  way  of 
gluing  his  wig  to  the  top  of  his  head,  or  that  it 


266     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

were  the  custom  to  secure  the  hat  by  means  of  strings 
tied  under  the  chin. 

As  Ned  Low  grew  up  to  be  a  strong  young  fel- 
low, he  also  grew  discontented  with  the  pilferings 
and  petty  plunders  which  were  possible  to  him  in 
the  London  streets,  and  so  he  went  to  sea  and  sailed 
to  America.  He  landed  in  Boston,  and,  as  it  was 
necessary  to  work  in  order  to  eat,  —  for  opportuni- 
ties of  a  dishonest  livelihood  had  not  yet  opened 
themselves  before  him,  —  he  undertook  to  learn  the 
trade  of  a  rigger,  but  as  he  was  very  badly  suited  to 
any  sort  of  steady  occupation,  he  soon  quarrelled 
with  his  master,  ran  away,  and  got  on  board  a  vessel 
bound  for  Honduras. 

For  a  time  he  earned  a  livelihood  by  cutting  log- 
wood, but  it  was  not  long  before  he  quarrelled  with 
the  captain  of  the  vessel  for  whom  he  was  working, 
and  finally  became  so  enraged  that  he  tried  to  kill 
him.  He  did  not  succeed  in  this  dastardly  attempt, 
but  as  he  could  not  commit  murder  he  decided  to 
do  the  next  worst  thing,  and  so  gathering  together 
twelve  of  the  greatest  rascals  among  his  companions, 
they  seized  a  boat,  went  out  to  the  captain's  schooner, 
which  was  lying  near  shore,  and  took  possession  of 
it.  Then  they  hoisted  anchor,  ran  up  the  sail,  and 
put  out  to  sea,  leaving  the  captain  and  the  men  who 
were  with  him  to  take  care  of  themselves  the  best 
that  they  could  and  live  on  logwood  leaves  if  they 
could  find  nothing  else  to  eat. 


A  Pirate  from  Boyhood  267 

Now  young  Low  was  out  upon  the  ocean  in  pos- 
session of  a  vessel  and  in  command  of  twelve  sturdy 
scoundrels,  and  he  did  not  have  the  least  trouble  in 
the  world  in  making  up  his  mind  what  he  should 
do  next.  As  soon  as  he  could  manufacture  a  black 
flag  from  materials  he  found  on  board,  he  flung  this 
ominous  ensign  to  the  breeze,  and  declared  himself 
a  pirate.  This  was  the  summit  of  his  ambition,  and 
in  this  new  profession  he  had  very  little  to  learn. 
From  a  boy  thief  to  a  man  pirate  the  way  is  easy 
enough. 

The  logwood  schooner,  of  course,  was  not  pro- 
vided with  the  cannon,  cutlasses,  and  pistols  neces- 
sary for  piratical  undertakings,  and  therefore  Low 
found  himself  in  the  position  of  a  young  man  begin- 
ning business  with  a  very  small  capital.  So,  in  the 
hopes  of  providing  himself  with  the  necessary  appli- 
ances for  his  work.  Low  sailed  for  one  of  the  islands 
of  the  West  Indies  which  was  a  resort  for  pirates, 
and  there  he  had  very  good  fortune,  for  he  fell  in 
with  a  man  named  Lowther  who  was  already  well 
established  in  the  profession  of  piracy. 

When  Low  sailed  into  the  little  port  with  his 
home-made  black  flag  floating  above  him,  Lowther 
received  him  with  the  greatest  courtesy  and  hospital- 
ity, and  shortly  afterwards  proposed  to  the  newly 
fledged  pirate  to  go  into  partnership  with  him. 
This  offer  was  accepted,  and  Low  was  made  second 


268     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

in  command  of  the  little  fleet  of  two  vessels,  each 
of  which  was  well  provided  with  arms,  ammunition, 
and  all  things  necessary  for  robbery  on  the  high 
seas. 

The  partnership  between  these  two  rascals  did 
not  continue  very  long.  They  took  several  valua- 
able  prizes,  and  the  more  booty  he  obtained,  the 
higher  became  Low's  opinion  of  himself,  and  the 
greater  his  desire  for  independent  action.  There- 
fore it  was  that  when  they  had  captured  a  large 
brigantine.  Low  determined  that  he  would  no  longer 
serve  under  any  man.  He  made  a  bargain  with 
Lowther  by  which  they  dissolved  partnership,  and 
Low  became  the  owner  of  the  brigantine.  In  this 
vessel,  with  forty-four  men  as  a  crew,  he  again  started 
out  in  the  black  flag  business  on  his  own  account, 
and  parting  from  his  former  chief  officer,  he  sailed 
northward. 

As  Low  had  landed  in  Boston,  and  had  lived  some 
time  in  that  city,  he  seems  to  have  conceived  a  fancy 
for  New  England,  which,  however,  was  not  at  all  re- 
ciprocated by  the  inhabitants  of  that  part  of  the 
country. 

Among  the  first  feats  which  Low  performed  in 
New  England  waters  was  the  capture  of  a  sloop 
about  to  enter  one  of  the  ports  of  Rhode  Island. 
When  he  had  taken  everything  out  of  this  vessel 
which  he  wanted.  Low  cut  away  the  yards  from  the 


A  Pirate  from  Boyhood  269 

masts  and  stripped  the  vessel  of  all  its  sails  and 
rigging.  As  his  object  was  to  get  away  from  these 
waters  before  his  presence  was  discovered  by  the 
people  on  shore,  he  not  only  made  it  almost  impos- 
sible to  sail  the  vessel  he  had  despoiled,  but  he 
wounded  the  captain  and  others  of  the  peaceful 
crew  so  that  they  should  not  be  able  to  give  infor- 
mation to  any  passing  craft.  Then  he  sailed  away  as 
rapidly  as  possible  in  the  direction  of  the  open  sea. 
In  spite,  however,  of  all  the  disadvantages  under 
which  they  labored,  the  crew  of  the  merchant  vessel 
managed  to  get  into  Block  Island,  and  from  there  a 
small  boat  was  hurriedly  rowed  over  to  Rhode 
Island,  carrying  intelligence  of  the  bold  piracy  which 
had  been  committed  so  close  to  one  of  its  ports. 

When  the  Governor  heard  what  had  happened, 
he  quickly  sent  out  drummers  to  sound  the  alarm 
in  the  seaport  towns  and  to  call  upon  volunteers  to 
go  out  and  capture  the  pirates.  So  great  was  the 
resentment  caused  by  the  audacious  deed  of  Low 
that  a  large  number  of  volunteers  hastened  to  ojffer 
their  services  to  the  Governor,  and  two  vessels  were 
fitted  out  with  such  rapidity  that,  although  their 
commanders  had  only  heard  of  the  affair  in  the 
morning,  they  were  ready  to  sail  before  sunset. 
They  put  on  all  sail  and  made  the  best  speed  they 
could,  and  although  they  really  caught  sight  of 
Low's  ship,  the  pirate  vessel  was  a  swifter  craft  than 


270     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

those  in  pursuit  of  her,  and  the  angry  sailors  of 
Rhode  Island  were  at  last  compelled  to  give  up  the 
chase. 

The  next  of  Low's  transactions  was  on  a  whole- 
sale scale.  Rounding  Cape  Cod  and  sailing  up  the 
coast,  he  at  last  reached  the  vicinity  of  Marblehead, 
and  there,  in  a  harbor  called  in  those  days  Port 
Rosemary,  he  found  at  anchor  a  fleet  of  thirteen 
merchant  vessels.  This  was  a  grand  sight,  as  wel- 
come to  the  eye  of  a  pirate  as  a  great  nugget  of  gold 
would  be  to  a  miner  who  for  weary  days  had  been 
washing  yellow  grains  from  the  "  pay  dirt "  which 
he  had  laboriously  dug  from  the  hard  soil. 

It  would  have  been  easy  for  Low  to  take  his  pick 
from  these  vessels  quietly  resting  in  the  little  harbor, 
for  he  soon  perceived  that  none  of  them  were  armed 
nor  were  they  able  to  protect  themselves  from 
assault,  but  his  audacity  was  of  an  expansive  kind, 
and  he  determined  to  capture  them  all.  Sailing 
boldly  into  the  harbor,  he  hoisted  the  dreadful  black 
flag,  and  then,  standing  on  his  quarter-deck  with 
his  speaking-trumpet,  he  shouted  to  each  vessel  as 
he  passed  it  that  if  it  did  not  surrender  he  would 
board  it  and  give  no  quarter  to  captain  or  crew. 
Of  course  there  was  nothing  else  for  the  peaceful 
sailors  to  do  but  to  submit,  and  so  this  greedy  pirate 
took  possession  of  each  vessel  in  turn  and  stripped 
it  of  everything  of  value  he  cared  to  take  away. 


A   Pirate  from   Boyhood  271 

But  he  did  not  confine  himself  to  stealing  the 
goods  on  board  these  merchantmen.  As  he  pre- 
ferred to  command  several  vessels  instead  of  one,  he 
took  possession  of  some  of  the  best  of  the  ships  and 
compelled  as  many  of  their  men  as  he  thought  he 
would  need  to  enter  his  service.  Then,  as  one  of 
the  captured  vessels  was  larger  and  better  than  his 
brigantine,  he  took  it  for  his  own  ship,  and  at  the 
head  of  the  little  pirate  fleet  he  bid  farewell  to 
Marblehead  and  started  out  on  a  grand  cruise  against 
the  commerce  of  our  coast. 

It  is  wonderful  how  rapidly  this  man  Low  suc- 
ceeded in  his  business  enterprises.  Beginning  with 
a  little  vessel  with  a  dozen  unarmed  men,  he  found 
himself  in  a  very  short  time  at  the  head  of  what  was 
perhaps  the  largest  piratical  force  in  American 
waters.  What  might  have  happened  if  Nature  had 
not  taken  a  hand  in  this  game  it  is  not  difficult  to 
imagine,  for  our  seaboard  towns,  especially  those  of 
the  South,  would  have  been  an  easy  prey  to  Low 
and  his  fleet. 

But  sailing  down  to  the  West  Indies,  probably  in 
order  to  fit  out  his  ships  with  guns,  arms,  and  ammu- 
nition before  beginning  a  naval  campaign,  his  fleet 
was  overtaken  by  a  terribly  storm,  and  in  order  to 
save  the  vessels  they  were  obliged  to  throw  over- 
board a  great  many  of  the  heavier  goods  they  had 
captured  at  Marblehead,  and  when  at  last  they  found 


272     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

shelter  in  the  harbor  of  a  small  island,  they  were  glad 
that  they  had  escaped  with  their  lives. 

The  grasping  and  rapacious  Low  was  not  now  in 
a  condition  to  proceed  to  any  rendezvous  of  pirates 
where  he  might  purchase  the  arms  and  supplies  he 
needed.  A  great  part  of  his  valuable  plunder  had 
gone  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  he  was  therefore 
obliged  to  content  himself  with  operations  upon  a 
comparatively  small  scale. 

How  small  and  contemptible  this  scale  was  it  is 
scarcely  possible  for  an  ordinary  civilized  being  to 
comprehend,  but  the  soul  of  this  ignoble  pirate  was 
capable  of  extraordinary  baseness. 

When  he  had  repaired  the  damage  to  his  ships. 
Low  sailed  out  from  the  island,  and  before  long  he 
fell  in  with  a  wrecked  vessel  which  had  lost  all  its 
masts  in  a  great  storm,  and  was  totally  disabled, 
floating  about  wherever  the  winds  chose  to  blow  it. 
The  poor  fellows  on  board  greatly  needed  succor, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  when  they  saw  the 
approach  of  sails  their  hopes  rose  high,  and  even  if 
they  had  known  what  sort  of  ships  they  were  which 
were  making  their  way  toward  them,  they  would 
scarcely  have  suspected  that  the  commander  of 
these  goodly  vessels  was  such  an  utterly  despicable 
scoundrel  as  he  proved  to  be. 

Instead  of  giving  any  sort  of  aid  to  the  poor 
shipwrecked  crew.  Low  and  his  men  set  to  work 


A  Pirate  from   Boyhood  273 

to  plunder  their  vessel,  and  they  took  from  it  a 
thousand  pounds  in  money,  and  everything  of  value 
which  they  could  find  on  board.  Having  thus 
stripped  the  unfortunate  wreck,  they  departed,  leav- 
ing the  captain  and  crew  of  the  disabled  vessel  to 
perish  by  storm  or  starvation,  unless  some  other 
vessel,  manned  by  human  beings  and  not  pitiless 
beasts,  should  pass  their  way  and  save  them. 

Low  now  commenced  a  long  series  of  piratical 
depredations.  He  captured  many  merchantmen,  he 
committed  the  vilest  cruelties  upon  his  victims,  and 
in  every  way  proved  himself  to  be  one  of  the  mean- 
est and  most  black-hearted  pirates  of  whom  we  have 
any  account.  It  is  not  necessary  to  relate  his  vari- 
ous dastardly  performances.  They  were  all  very 
much  of  the  same  order,  and  none  of  them  pos- 
sessed any  peculiar  interest;  his  existence  is  re- 
ferred to  in  these  pages  because  he  was  one  of  the 
most  noted  and  successful  pirates  of  his  time,  and 
also  because  his  career  indicated  how  entirely  differ- 
ent was  the  character  of  the  buccaneers  of  previous 
days  from  that  of  the  pirates  who  in  the  eighteenth 
century  infested  our  coast.  The  first  might  have  been 
compared  to  bold  and  dashing  highwaymen,  who  at 
least  showed  courage  and  daring;  but  the  others 
resembled  sneak  thieves,  always  seeking  to  commit 
a  crime  if  they  could  do  it  in  safety,  but  never  mlU 
ing  to  risk  their  cowardly  necks  in  any  danger. 


274     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

The  buccaneers  of  the  olden  days  were  certainly 
men  of  the  greatest  bravery.  They  did  not  hesitate 
to  attack  well-armed  vessels  manned  by  crews  much 
larger  than  their  own,  and  in  later  periods  they  faced 
cannon  and  conquered  cities.  Their  crimes  were 
many  and  vile ;  but  when  they  committed  cruelties 
they  did  so  in  order  to  compel  their  prisoners  to 
disclose  their  hidden  treasures,  and  when  they  at- 
tacked a  Spanish  vessel,  and  murdered  all  on  board, 
they  had  in  their  hearts  the  remembrance  that  the 
Spanish  naval  forces  gave  no  quarter  to  buccaneers. 

But  pirates  such  as  Edward  Low  showed  not  one 
palliating  feature  in  their  infamous  characters.  To 
rob  and  desert  a  shipwrecked  crew  was  only  one 
of  Low's  contemptible  actions.  It  appears  that  he 
seldom  attacked  a  vessel  from  which  there  seemed 
to  be  any  probability  of  resistance,  and  we  read  of 
no  notable  combats  or  sea-fights  in  which  he  was 
engaged.  He  preyed  upon  the  weak  and  defence- 
less, and  his  inhuman  cruelties  were  practised,  not 
for  the  sake  of  extorting  gain  from  his  victims,  but 
simply  to  gratify  his  spite  and  love  of  wickedness. 

There  were  men  among  Low's  followers  who 
looked  upon  him  as  a  bold  and  brave  leader,  for 
he  was  always  a  blusterer  and  a  braggart,  and  there 
were  honest  seamen  and  merchants  who  were  very 
much  afraid  of  him,  but  time  proved  that  there  was 
no  reason  for  any  one  to  suppose  that  Edward  Low 


A  Pirate  from  Boyhood  275 

had  a  spark  of  courage  in  his  composition.  He  was 
brave  enough  when  he  was  attacking  an  unarmed 
crew,  but  when  he  had  to  deal  with  any  vessel 
capable  of  inflicting  any  injury  upon  him  he  was 
a  coward  indeed. 

Sailing  in  company  with  one  companion  vessel, — 
for  he  had  discarded  the  greater  part  of  his  pirate 
fleet, — Low  sighted  a  good-sized  ship  at  a  consider- 
able distance,  and  he  and  his  consort  immediately 
gave  chase,  supposing  the  distant  vessel  might  prove 
to  be  a  good  prize.  It  so  happened,  however,  that 
the  ship  discovered  by  Low  was  an  English  man- 
of-war,  the  Greyhoundy  which  was  cruising  along  the 
coast  looking  for  these  very  pirates,  who  had  recently 
committed  some  outrageous  crimes  upon  the  crews 
of  merchant  vessels  in  those  waters. 

When  the  two  ships,  with  the  black  flags  floating 
above  them  and  their  decks  crowded  with  desperate 
fellows  armed  with  pistols  and  cutlasses,  drew  near 
to  the  vessel,  of  which  they  expected  to  make  a 
prize,  they  were  greatly  amazed  when  she  suddenly 
turned  in  her  course  and  delivered  a  broadside  from 
her  heavy  cannon.  The  pirates  returned  the  fire, 
for  they  were  well  armed  with  cannon,  and  there 
was  nothing  else  for  them  to  do  but  fight,  but  the 
combat  was  an  extremely  short  one.  Low's  consort 
was  soon  disabled  by  the  fire  from  the  man-of-war, 
and,  as  soon  as  he  perceived   this,  the   dastardly 


2j6     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Low,  without  any  regard  for  his  companions  in 
arms,  and  with  no  thought  for  anything  but  his 
own  safety,  immediately  stopped  fighting,  and  set- 
ting all  sail,  sped  away  from  the  scene  of  combat  as 
swiftly  as  it  was  possible  for  the  wind  to  force  his 
vessel  through  the  water. 

The  disabled  pirate  ship  was  quickly  captured,  and 
not  long  afterwards  twenty-five  of  her  crew  were 
tried,  convicted,  and  hung  near  Newport,  Rhode 
Island.  But  the  arrant  Low  escaped  without  injury, 
and  continued  his  career  of  contemptible  crime  for 
some  time  longer.  What  finally  became  of  him  is 
not  set  down  in  the  histories  of  piracy.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  if  the  men  under  his  command  were 
not  too  brutally  stupid  to  comprehend  his  cowardly 
unfaithfulness  to  them,  they  suddenly  removed  from 
this  world  one  of  the  least  interesting  of  all  base 
beings. 


Chapter  XXX 
The  Pirate  of  the  Gulf 

AT  the  beginning  of  this  century  there  was  a 
very  able  and,  indeed,  talented  man  living 
"  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
who  has  been  set  down  in  the  historical  records 
of  the  times  as  a  very  important  pirate,  and  who  is 
described  in  story  and  in  tradition  as  a  gallant  and 
romantic  freebooter  of  the  sea.  This  man  was  Jean 
Lafitte,  widely  known  as  "  The  Pirate  of  the  Gulf," 
and  yet  who  was,  in  fact,  so  little  of  a  pirate,  that  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  or  not  he  deserves  a  place 
in  these  stories  of  American  pirates. 

Lafitte  was  a  French  blacksmith,  and,  while  still 
a  young  man,  he  came  with  his  two  brothers  to 
New  Orleans,  and  set  up  a  shop  in  Bourbon  Street, 
where  he  did  a  good  business  in  horseshoeing  and 
in  other  branches  of  his  trade.  But  he  had  a  soul 
which  soared  high  above  his  anvil  and  his  bellows, 
and  perceiving  an  opportunity  to  take  up  a  very 
profitable  occupation,  he  gave  up  blacksmithing,  and 
with  his  two  brothers  as  partners  became  a  super- 

277 


278     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

intendent  of  privateering  and  a  general  manager 
of  semi-legalized  piracy.  The  business  opportunity 
which  came  to  the  watchful  and  clear-sighted  Lafitte 
may  be  briefly  described. 

In  the  early  years  of  this  century  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  was  the  scene  of  operations  of  small  vessels 
calling  themselves  privateers,  but  in  fact  pirates. 
War  had  broken  out  between  England  and  Spain, 
on  the  one  side,  and  France  on  the  other,  and  conse- 
quently the  first-named  nations  were  very  glad  to  com- 
mission privateers  to  prey  upon  the  commerce  of 
France.  There  were  also  privateers  who  had  been 
sent  out  by  some  of  the  Central  American  republics 
who  had  thrown  off  the  Spanish  yoke,  and  these, 
considering  Spanish  vessels  as  their  proper  booty, 
were  very  much  inclined  to  look  upon  English 
vessels  in  the  same  light,  as  the  English  and 
Spanish  were  allies.  And  when  a  few  French  pri- 
vateers came  also  upon  the  scene,  they  helped  to 
make  the  business  of  legitimate  capture  of  merchant- 
men, during  the  time  of  war,  a  very  complicated 
aflTair. 

But  upon  one  point  these  privateers,  who  so 
often  acted  as  pirates,  because  they  had  not  the 
spare  time  in  which  to  work  out  difficult  problems 
of  nationality,  were  all  agreed:  when  they  had 
loaded  their  ships  with  booty,  they  must  sail  to 
some  place  where  it  would  be  safe  to  dispose  of  it. 


The  Pirate  of  the  Gulf  279 

So,  in  course  of  time,  the  bay  of  Barrataria,  about 
forty  miles  south  of  New  Orleans  and  very  well 
situated  for  an  illegal  settlement,  was  chosen  as  a 
privateers'  port,  and  a  large  and  flourishing  colony 
soon  grew  up  at  the  head  of  the  bay,  to  which  came 
privateers  of  every  nationality  to  dispose  of  their 
cargoes. 

Of  course  there  was  no  one  in  the  comparatively 
desolate  country  about  Barrataria  who  could  buy  the 
valuable  goods  which  were  brought  into  that  port, 
but  the  great  object  of  the  owners  of  this  merchan- 
dise was  to  smuggle  it  up  to  New  Orleans  and 
dispose  of  it.  But  there  could  be  no  legitimate 
traffic  of  this  sort,  for  the  United  States  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  century  was  at  peace  with  England, 
France,  and  Spain,  and  therefore  could  not  receive 
into  any  of  her  ports,  goods  which  had  been  capt- 
ured from  the  ships  of  these  nations.  Conse- 
quently the  plunder  of  the  privateering  pirates  of 
Barrataria  was  brought  up  to  New  Orleans  in  all 
sorts  of  secret  and  underhand  fashions,  and  sold  to 
merchants  in  that  city,  without  the  custom  house 
having  anything  to  do  with  the  importations. 

Now  this  was  great  business ;  Jean  Lafitte  had 
a  great  business  mind,  and  therefore  it  was  not 
long  after  his  arrival  at  Barrataria  before  he  was  the 
head  man  in  the  colony,  and  director-in-chief  of  all 
its    operations.     Thus,  by  becoming   a   prominent 


28o     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

figure  in  a  piratical  circle,  he  came  to  be  considered 
a  pirate,  and  as  such  came  down  to  us  in  the  pages 
of  history. 

But,  in  fact,  Lafitte  never  committed  an  act  of 
piracy  in  his  life ;  he  was  a  blacksmith,  and  knew 
no  more  about  sailing  a  ship  or  even  the  smallest 
kind  of  a  boat  than  he  knew  about  the  proper  con- 
struction of  a  sonnet.  He  did  not  even  try,  like  the 
celebrated  Bonnet,  to  find  other  people  who  would 
navigate  a  vessel  for  him,  for  he  had  no  taste  for  the 
ocean  wave,  and  all  that  he  had  to  do  he  did  upon 
firm,  dry  land.  It  is  said  of  him  that  he  was  never 
at  sea  but  twice  in  his  life :  once  when  he  came  from 
France,  and  once  when  he  left  this  country,  and  on 
neither  occasion  did  he  sail  under  the  "  Jolly  Roger," 
as  the  pirate  flag  was  sometimes  called.  For  these 
reasons  it  seems  scarcely  right  to  call  Lafitte  a  pirate, 
but  as  he  has  been  so  generally  considered  in  that 
light,  we  will  admit  him  into  the  bad  company,  the 
stories  of  whose  lives  we  are  now  telling. 

The  energy  and  business  abilities  of  Jean  Lafitte 
soon  made  themselves  felt  not  only  in  Barrataria, 
but  in  New  Orleans.  The  privateers  found  that  he 
managed  their  aflfairs  with  much  discretion  and  con- 
siderable fairness,  and,  while  they  were  willing  to 
depend  upon  him,  they  were  obliged  to  obey  him. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  trade  of  New  Orleans  was 
very  much  influenced  by  the  great  quantities  of 


The  Pirate  of  the  Gulf  281 

goods  which  under  Lafitte's  directions  were  smuggled 
into  the  city.  Many  merchants  and  shopkeepers 
who  possessed  no  consciences  to  speak  of  were  glad 
to  buy  these  smuggled  goods  for  very  little  money 
and  to  sell  them  at  low  prices  and  large  profits,  but 
the  respectable  business  men,  who  were  obliged  to 
pay  market  prices  for  their  goods,  were  greatly  dis- 
turbed by  the  large  quantities  of  merchandise  which 
were  continually  smuggled  into  New  Orleans  and 
sold  at  rates  with  which  they  could  not  compete. 

It  was  toward  the  end  of  our  war  with  England, 
which  began  in  1812,  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  urged  to  speedy  action  by  the  increas- 
ing complaints  of  the  law-abiding  merchants  of  New 
Orleans,  determined  to  send  out  a  small  naval  force 
and  entirely  break  up  the  illegitimate  rendezvous  at 
Barrataria. 

Lafitte's  two  brothers  were  in  New  Orleans  acting 
as  his  agents,  and  one  of  them,  Dominique,  was 
arrested  and  thrown  into  prison,  and  Commodore 
Patterson,  who  was  commanding  at  that  station,  was 
ordered  to  fit  out  an  expedition  as  quickly  as  possible 
to  sail  down  to  Barrataria  to  destroy  the  ships  found 
in  the  bay,  to  capture  the  town,  and  to  confiscate 
and  seize  upon  all  goods  which  might  be  found  in 
the  place. 

When  Jean  Lafitte  heard  of  the  vigorous  methods 
which  were  about  to  be  taken  against  him,  his  pros- 


282     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

pects  must  have  been  very  gloomy  ones,  for  of  course 
he  could  not  defend  his  little  colony  against  a  regular 
naval  force,  which,  although  its  large  vessels  could 
not  sail  into  the  shallow  bay,  could  send  out  boats 
with  armed  crews  against  which  it  would  be  foolish 
for  him  to  contend.  But  just  about  this  time  a 
very  strange  thing  happened. 

A  strong  English  naval  force  had  taken  possession 
of  Pensacola,  Florida,  and  as  an  attack  upon  New 
Orleans  was  contemplated,  the  British  commander, 
knowing  of  Lafitte's  colony  at  Barrataria,  and  believ- 
ing that  these  hardy  and  reckless  adventurers  would 
be  very  valuable  allies  in  the  proposed  movement 
upon  the  city,  determined  to  send  an  ambassador  to 
Lafitte  to  see  what  could  be  done  in  the  way  of 
forming  an  alliance  with  this  powerful  leader  of  semi- 
pirates  and  smugglers. 

Accordingly,  the  sloop  of  war  Sophia y  commanded 
by  Captain  Lockyer,  was  sent  to  Barrataria  to  treat 
with  Lafitte,  and  when  this  vessel  arrived  off  the 
mouth  of  the  harbor,  which  she  could  not  enter,  she 
began  firing  signal  guns  in  order  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  people  of  the  colony.  Naturally 
enough,  the  report  of  the  Sophia  s  guns  created  a 
great  excitement  in  Barrataria,  and  all  the  people 
who  happened  to  be  at  the  settlement  at  that  time 
crowded  out  upon  the  beach  to  see  what  they  could 
see.     But  the  war-vessel  was  too  far  away  for  them 


The  Pirate  of  the  Gulf  283 

to  distinguish  her  nationality,  and  Lafitte  quickly 
made  up  his  mind  that  the  only  thing  for  him  to  do 
was  to  row  out  to  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  and  see 
what  was  the  matter.  Without  doubt  he  feared 
that  this  was  the  United  States  vessel  which  had 
come  to  break  up  his  settlement.  But  whether  this 
was  the  case  or  not,  he  must  go  out  and  try  the 
effect  of  fair  words,  for  he  had  no  desire  whatever 
to  defend  his  interests  by  hard  blows. 

Before  Lafitte  reached  the  vessel  he  was  surprised 
to  find  it  was  a  British  man-of-war,  not  an  Ameri- 
can, and  very  soon  he  saw  that  a  boat  was  coming 
from  it  and  rowing  toward  him.  This  boat  con- 
tained Captain  Lockyer  and  two  other  officers,  be- 
sides the  men  who  rowed  it ;  when  the  two  boats 
met,  the  captain  told  who  he  was,  and  asked  if  Mr. 
Lafitte  could  be  found  in  Barrataria,,  stating  that  he 
had  an  important  document  to  deliver  to  him.  The 
cautious  Frenchman  did  not  immediately  admit  that 
he  was  the  man  for  whom  the  document  was  in- 
tended, but  he  said  that  Lafitte  was  at  Barrataria, 
and  as  the  two  boats  rowed  together  toward  shore, 
he  thought  it  would  be  as  well  to  announce  his 
position,  and  did  so. 

When  the  crowd  of  privateersmen  saw  the  officers 
in  British  uniform  landing  upon  their  beach,  they 
were  not  inclined  to  receive  them  kindly,  for  an 
attack  had  been  made  upon  the  place  by  a  small 


284     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

British  force  some  time  before,  and  a  good  deal  of 
damage  had  been  done.  But  Lafitte  quieted  the 
angry  feelings  of  his  followers,  conducted  the  officers 
to  his  own  house,  and  treated  them  with  great  hos- 
pitality, which  he  was  able  to  do  in  fine  style,  for 
his  men  brought  into  Barrataria  luxuries  from  all 
parts  of  the  world. 

When  Lafitte  opened  the  package  of  papers  which 
Captain  Lockyer  handed  to  him,  he  was  very  much 
surprised.  Some  of  them  were  general  proclama- 
tions announcing  the  intention  of  Great  Britain  if 
the  people  of  Louisiana  did  not  submit  to  her  de- 
mands ;  but  the  most  important  document  was  one 
in  which  Colonel  Nichols,  commander-in-chief  of 
the  British  forces  in  the  Gulf,  made  an  offer  to 
Lafitte  and  his  followers  to  become  a  part  of  the 
British  navy,  promising  to  give  amnesty  to  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Barrataria,  to  make  their  leader  a 
captain  in  the  navy,  and  to  do  a  great  many  other 
good  things,  provided  they  would  join  his  forces,  and 
help  him  to  attack  the  American  seaports.  In  case, 
however,  this  offer  should  be  refused,  the  Barrata- 
rians  were  assured  that  their  place  would  speedily 
be  attacked,  their  vessels  destroyed,  and  all  their 
possessions  confiscated. 

Lafitte  was  now  in  a  state  of  great  perplexity. 
He  did  not  wish  to  become  a  British  captain,  for 
his  knowledge  of  horseshoeing  would  be  of  no  ser- 


The  Pirate  of  the  Gulf  285 

vice  to  him  in  such  a  capacity ;  moreover,  he  had 
no  love  for  the  British,  and  his  sympathies  were 
all  on  the  side  of  the  United  States  in  this  war. 
But  here  he  was  with  the  British  commander  ask- 
ing him  to  become  an  ally,  and  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  United  States,  threatening  at  the  same 
time  to  destroy  him  and  his  colony  in  case  of  re- 
fusal. On  the  other  hand,  there  was  the  United 
States  at  that  moment  preparing  an  expedition 
for  the  purpose  of  breaking  up  the  settlement  at 
Barrataria,  and  to  do  everything  which  the  British 
threatened  to  do,  in  case  Lafitte  did  not  agree  to 
their  proposals. 

The  chief  of  Barrataria  might  have  made  a  poor 
show  with  a  cutlass  and  a  brace  of  pistols,  but  he 
was  a  long-headed  and  sagacious  man,  with  a  strong 
tendency  to  practical  diplomacy.  He  was  in  a  bad 
scrape,  and  he  must  act  with  decision  and  prompt- 
ness, if  he  wanted  to  get  out  of  it. 

The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  gain  time  by  delay- 
ing hia  answer  to  the  proposition  brought  by  Captain 
Lockyer.  He  assured  that  officer  that  he  must 
consult  with  his  people  and  see  what  they  would  do, 
and  that  he  must  also  get  rid  of  some  truculent 
members  of  the  colony,  who  would  never  agree  to 
act  in  concert  with  England,  and  that  therefore  he 
should  not  be  able  to  give  an  answer  to  Colonel 
Nichols  for  two  weeks.     Captain  Lockyer  saw  for 


286     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

himself  that  it  would  not  be  an  easy  matter  to  induce 
these  independent  and  unruly  fellows,  many  of  whom 
already  hated  England,  to  enter  into  the  British 
service.  Therefore  he  thought  it  would  be  wise  to 
allow  Lafitte  the  time  he  asked  for,  and  he  sailed 
away,  promising  to  return  in  fifteen  days. 

The  diplomatic  Lafitte,  having  finished  for  a  time 
his  negotiations  with  the  British,  lost  no  time  in 
communicating  with  the  American  authorities.  He 
sent  to  Governor  Claiborne,  of  Louisiana,  all  the 
documents  he  had  received  from  Captain  Lockyer, 
and  wrote  him  a  letter  in  which  he  told  him  every- 
thing that  had  happened,  and  thus  gave  to  the 
United  States  the  first  authentic  information  of  the 
proposed  attack  upon  Mobile  and  New  Orleans. 
He  then  told  the  Governor  that  he  had  no  intention 
of  fighting  against  the  country  he  had  adopted; 
that  he  was  perfectly  willing  and  anxious  to  aid  her 
in  every  manner  possible,  and  that  he  and  his  follow- 
ers would  gladly  join  the  United  States  against  the 
British,  asking  nothing  in  return  except  that  all 
proceedings  against  Barrataria  should  be  abandoned, 
that  amnesty  should  be  given  to  him  and  his  men, 
that  his  brother  should  be  released  from  prison, 
and  that  an  act  of  oblivion  should  be  passed  by 
which  the  deeds  of  the  smugglers  of  Barrataria 
should  be  condoned  and  forgotten. 

Furthermore,  he  said  that  if  the  United  States 


The  Pirate  of  the  Gulf  287 

government  did  not  accede  to  his  proposition,  he 
would  immediately  depart  from  Barrataria  with  all 
his  men ;  for  no  matter  what  loss  such  a  proceeding 
might  prove  to  him  he  would  not  remain  in  a  place 
where  he  might  be  forced  to  act  against  the  United 
States.  Lafitte  also  wrote  to  a  member  of  the 
Louisiana  Legislature,  and  his  letters  were  well 
calculated  to  produce  a  very  good  effect  in  his  favor. 

The  Governor  immediately  called  a  council,  and 
submitted  the  papers  and  letters  received  from 
Lafitte.  When  these  had  been  read,  two  points 
were  considered  by  the  council,  the  first  being  that 
the  letters  and  proclamations  from  the  British  might 
be  forgeries  concocted  by  Lafitte  for  the  purpose  of 
averting  the  punishment  which  was  threatened  by 
the  United  States ;  and  the  second,  whether  or  not 
it  would  be  consistent  with  the  dignity  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  treat  with  this  leader  of  pirates  and 
smugglers. 

The  consultation  resulted  in  a  decision  not  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  Lafitte  in  the  way  of 
negotiations,  and  to  hurry  forward  the  preparations 
which  had  been  made  for  the  destruction  of  the 
dangerous  and  injurious  settlement  at  Barrataria. 
In  consequence  of  this  action  of  the  council.  Com- 
modore Patterson  sailed  in  a  very  few  days  down 
the  Mississippi  and  attacked  the  pirate  settlement 
at  Barrataria  with  such  eflFect  that  most  of  her  ships 


288     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

were  taken,  many  prisoners  and  much  valuable 
merchandise  captured,  and  the  whole  place  utterly- 
destroyed.  Lafitte,  with  the  greater  part  of  his 
men,  had  fled  to  the  woods,  and  so  escaped  capture. 

Captain  Lockyer  at  the  appointed  time  arrived 
off  the  harbor  of  Barrataria  and  blazed  away  with 
his  signal  guns  for  forty-eight  hours,  but  receiving 
no  answer,  and  fearing  to  send  a  boat  into  the 
harbor,  suspecting  treachery  on  the  part  of  Lafitte, 
he  was  obliged  to  depart  in  ignorance  of  what  had 
happened. 

When  the  papers  and  letters  which  had  been  sent 
to  Governor  Claiborne  by  Lafitte  were  made  public, 
the  people  of  Louisiana  and  the  rest  of  the  country 
did  not  at  all  agree  with  the  Governor  and  his 
'*  council  in  regard  to  their  decision  and  their  subse- 
quent action,  and  Edward  Livingston,  a  distin- 
guished lawyer  of  New  York,  took  the  part  of 
Lafitte  and  argued  very  strongly  in  favor  of  his 
loyalty  and  honesty  in  the  aflFair. 

Even  when  it  was  discovered  that  all  the  infor- 
mation which  Lafitte  had  sent  was  perfectly  correct, 
and  that  a  formidable  attack  was  about  to  be  made 
upon  New  Orleans,  General  Jackson,  who  was  in 
command  in  that  part  of  the  country,  issued  a  very 
savage  proclamation  against  the  British  method  of 
making  war,  and  among  their  wicked  deeds  he  men- 
tioned nothing  which  seemed  to  him  to  be  worse 


The  Pirate  of  the  Gulf  289 

than  their  endeavor  to  employ  against  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  the  band  of  "  hellish  banditti " 
commanded  by  Jean  Lafitte ! 

But  public  opinion  was  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
ex-pirate  of  the  Gulf,  and  as  things  began  to  look 
more  and  more  serious  in  regard  to  New  Orleans, 
General  Jackson  was  at  last  very  glad,  in  spite  of 
all  that  he  had  said,  to  accept  the  renewed  offers 
of  Lafitte  and  his  men  to  assist  in  the  defence  of 
the  city,  and  in  consequence  of  his  change  of  mind 
many  of  the  former  inhabitants  of  Barrataria  fought 
in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  and  did  good  work. 
Their  services  were  so  valuable,  in  fact,  that  when 
the  war  closed  President  Madison  issued  a  proc- 
lamation in  which  it  was  stated  that  the  former 
inhabitants  of  Barrataria,  in  consequence  of  having 
abandoned  their  wicked  ways  of  life,  and  having 
assisted  in  the  defence  of  their  country,  were  now 
granted  full  pardon  for  all  the  evil  deeds  they  had 
previously  committed. 

Now  Lafitte  and  his  men  were  free  and  indepen- 
dent citizens  of  the  United  States ;  they  could  live 
where  they  pleased  without  fear  of  molestation,  and 
could  enter  into  any  sort  of  legal  business  which 
suited  their  fancy,  but  this  did  not  satisfy  Lafitte. 
He  had  endeavored  to  take  a  prompt  and  honest 
stand  on  the  side  of  his  country ;  his  offers  had 
been  treated  with  contempt  and  disbelief;    he  had 


290     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

been  branded  as  a  deceitful  knave,  and  no  disposition 
had  been  shown  to  act  justly  toward  him  until  his 
services  became  so  necessary  to  the  government 
that  it  was  obliged  to  accept  them. 

Consequently,  Lafitte,  accompanied  by  some  of 
his  old  adherents,  determined  to  leave  a  country 
where  his  loyalty  had  received  such  unsatisfactory 
recognition,  and  to  begin  life  again  in  some  other 
part  of  the  American  continent.  Not  long  after 
the  war  he  sailed  out  upon  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  — 
for  what  destination  it  is  not  known,  but  probably 
for  some  Central  American  port,  —  and  as  nothing 
was  ever  heard  of  him  or  his  party,  it  is  believed  by 
many  persons  that  they  all  perished  in  the  great 
storm  which  arose  soon  after  their  departure.  There 
were  other  persons,  however,  who  stated  that  he 
reached  Yucatan,  where  he  died  on  dry  land  in  1826. 

But  the  end  of  Lafitte  is  no  more  doubtful  than 
his  right  to  the  title  given  to  him  by  people  of  a 
romantic  turn  of  mind,  and  other  persons  of  a  still 
more  fanciful  disposition  might  be  willing  to  suppose 
that  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  indignant  at  the  undeserved 
distinction  which  had  come  to  him,  had  swallowed 
him  up  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  his  pretension  to 
the  title  of  "  The  Pirate  of  the  Gulf." 


Chapter  XXXI 
The  Pirate  of  the  Buried  Treasure 

AMONG  all  the  pirates  who  have  figured  in 
history,  legend,  or  song,  there  is  one  whose 
■  name  stands  preeminent  as  the  typical  hero 
of  the  dreaded  black  flag.  The  name  of  this  man 
will  instantly  rise  in  the  mind  of  almost  every  reader, 
for  when  we  speak  of  pirates  we  always  think  of 
Captain  Kidd. 

In  fact,  however.  Captain  Kidd  was  not  a  typical 
pirate,  for  in  many  ways  he  was  diflFerent  from  the 
ordinary  marine  freebooter,  especially  when  we  con- 
sider him  in  relation  to  our  own  country.  All  other 
pirates  who  made  themselves  notorious  on  our  coast 
were  known  as  robbers,  pillagers,  and  ruthless  de- 
stroyers of  life  and  property,  but  Captain  Kidd's 
fame  was  of  another  kind.  We  do  not  think  of 
him  as  a  pirate  who  came  to  carry  away  the  property 
of  American  citizens,  for  nearly  all  the  stories  about 
him  relate  to  his  arrival  at  diflFerent  points  on  our 
shores  for  the  sole  purpose  of  burying  and  thus 

291 


2^2     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

concealing  the  rich  treasures  which  he  had  collected 
in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

This  novel  reputation  given  a  pirate  who  enriched 
our  shore  by  his  deposits  and  took  away  none  of 
the  possessions  of  our  people  could  not  fail  to  make 
Captain  Kidd  a  most  interesting  personage,  and  the 
result  has  been  that  he  has  been  lifted  out  of  the 
sphere  of  ordinary  history  and  description  into 
the  region  of  imagination  and  legendary  romance. 
In  a  word,  he  has  been  made  a  hero  of  fiction  and 
song.  It  may  be  well,  then,  to  assume  that  there 
are  two  Captain  Kidds,  —  one  the  Kidd  of  legend 
and  story,  and  the  other  the  Kidd  of  actual  fact,  and 
we  will  consider,  one  at  a  time,  the  two  characters  in 
which  we  know  the  man. 

As  has  been  said  before,  nearly  all  the  stories  of 
the  legendary  Captain  Kidd  relate  to  his  visits  along 
our  northern  coast,  and  even  to  inland  points,  for 
the  purpose  of  concealing  the  treasures  which  had 
been  amassed  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

Thus  if  we  were  to  find  ourselves  in  almost  any 
village  or  rural  settlement  along  the  coast  of  New 
Jersey  or  Long  Island,  and  were  to  fall  in  with  any 
old  resident  who  was  fond  of  talking  to  strangers,  he 
would  probably  point  out  to  us  the  blackened  and 
weather-beaten  ribs  of  a  great  ship  which  had  been 
wrecked  on  the  sand  bar  off  the  coast  during  a  terri- 
ble storm  long  ago;  he  would  show  us  where  the 


The  Pirate  of  the  Buried  Treasure        293 

bathing  was  pleasant  and  safe ;  he  would  tell  us  of 
the  best  place  for  fishing,  and  probably  show  us  the 
high  bluff  a  little  back  from  the  beach  from  which 
the  Indian  maiden  leaped  to  escape  the  tomahawk 
of  her  enraged  lover,  and  then  he  would  be  almost 
sure  to  tell  us  of  the  secluded  spot  where  it  was  said 
Captain  Kidd  and  his  pirates  once  buried  a  lot  of 
treasure. 

If  we  should  ask  our  garrulous  guide  why  this 
treasure  had  not  been  dug  up  by  the  people  of 
the  place,  he  would  probably  shake  his  head  and 
declare  that  personally  he  knew  nothing  about  it, 
but  that  it  was  generally  believed  that  it  was  there, 
and  he  had  heard  that  there  had  been  people  who 
had  tried  to  find  it,  but  if  they  did  find  any  they 
never  said  anything  about  it,  and  it  was  his  opinion 
that  if  Captain  Kidd  ever  put  any  gold  or  silver  or 
precious  stones  under  the  ground  on  that  part  of 
the  coast  these  treasures  were  all  there  yet. 

Further  questioning  would  probably  develop  the 
fact  that  there  was  a  certain  superstition  which  pre- 
vented a  great  many  people  from  interfering  with 
the  possible  deposits  which  Captain  Kidd  had  made 
in  their  neighborhood,  and  although  few  persons 
would  be  able  to  define  exactly  the  foundation  of  the 
superstition,  it  was  generally  supposed  that  most  of 
the  pirates'  treasures  were  guarded  by  pirate  ghosts. 
In  that  case,  of  course,  timid  individuals  would  be 


294     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

deterred  from  going  out  by  themselves  at  night,  — 
for  that  was  the  proper  time  to  dig  for  buried  treas- 
ure,—  and  as  it  would  not  have  been  easy  to  get 
together  a  number  of  men  each  brave  enough  to 
give  the  others  courage,  many  of  the  spots  reputed 
to  be  the  repositories  of  buried  treasure  have  never 
been  disturbed. 

In  spite  of  the  fear  of  ghosts,  in  spite  of  the  want 
of  accurate  knowledge  in  regard  to  favored  localities, 
in  spite  of  hardships,  previous  disappointments,  or 
expected  ridicule,  a  great  many  extensive  excavations 
have  been  made  in  the  sands  or  the  soil  along  the 
coasts  of  our  northern  states,  and  even  in  quiet 
woods  lying  miles  from  the  sea,  to  which  it  would 
have  been  necessary  for  the  pirates  to  carry  their 
goods  in  wagons,  people  have  dug  and  hoped  and 
have  gone  away  sadly  to  attend  to  more  sensible 
business,  and  far  up  some  of  our  rivers  —  where  a 
pirate  vessel  never  floated  —  people  have  dug  with 
the  same  hopeful  anxiety,  and  have  stopped  digging 
in  the  same  condition  of  dejected  disappointment. 

Sometimes  these  enterprises  were  conducted  on  a 
scale  which  reminds  us  of  the  operations  on  the  gold 
coast  of  California.  Companies  were  organized, 
stock  was  issued  and  subscribed  for,  and  the  excava- 
tions were  conducted  under  the  direction  of  skilful 
treasure-seeking  engineers. 

It  is  said  that  not  long  ago  a  company  was  organ- 


The  Pirate  of  the  Buried  Treasure        295 

ized  in  Nova  Scotia  for  the  purpose  of  seeking  for 
Captain  Kidd*s  treasures  in  a  place  which  it  is  highly 
probable  Captain  Kidd  never  saw.  A  great  excava- 
tion having  been  made,  the  water  from  the  sea  came 
in  and  filled  it  up,  but  the  work  was  stopped  only 
long  enough  to  procure  steam  pumps  with  which 
the  big  hole  could  be  drained.  At  last  accounts  the 
treasures  had  not  been  reached,  and  this  incident  is 
mentioned  only  to  show  how  this  belief  in  buried 
treasures  continues  even  to  the  present  day. 

There  is  a  legend  which  differs  somewhat  from 
the  ordinary  run  of  these  stories,  and  it  is  told 
about  a  little  island  on  the  coast  of  Cape  Cod, 
which  is  called  Hannah  Screecher's  Island,  and  this 
is  the  way  its  name  came  to  it. 

Captain  Kidd  while  sailing  along  the  coast,  look- 
ing for  a  suitable  place  to  bury  some  treasure,  found 
this  island  adapted  to  his  purpose,  and  landed  there 
with  his  savage  crew,  and  his  bags  and  boxes,  and 
his  gold  and  precious  stones.  It  was  said  to  be  the 
habit  of  these  pirates,  whenever  they  made  a  deposit 
on  the  coast,  to  make  the  hole  big  enough  not  only 
to  hold  the  treasure  they  wished  to  deposit  there, 
but  the  body  of  one  of  the  crew,  —  who  was  buried 
with  the  valuables  in  order  that  his  spirit  might 
act  as  a  day  and  night  watchman  to  frighten  away 
people  who  might  happen  to  be  digging  in  that 
particular  spot. 


296     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

The  story  relates  that  somewhere  on  the  coast 
Captain  Kidd  had  captured  a  young  lady  named 
Hannah,  and  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  her,  and 
desiring  not  to  commit  an  unnecessary  extravagance 
by  disposing  of  a  useful  sailor,  he  determined  to  kill 
Hannah,  and  bury  her  with  the  treasure,  in  order 
that  she  might  keep  away  intruders  until  he  came 
for  it. 

It  was  very  natural  that  when  Hannah  was 
brought  on  shore  and  found  out  what  was  going 
to  be  done  with  her,  she  should  screech  in  a 
most  dreadful  manner,  and  although  the  pirates 
soon  silenced  her  and  covered  her  up,  they  did  not 
succeed  in  silencing  her  spirit,  and  ever  since  that 
time,  —  according  to  the  stories  told  by  some  of 
the  older  inhabitants  of  Cape  Cod,  —  there  may  be 
heard  in  the  early  dusk  of  the  evening  the  screeches 
of  Hannah  coming  across  the  water  from  her  little 
island  to  the  mainland. 

Mr.  James  Herbert  Morse  has  written  a  ballad 
founded  upon  this  peculiar  incident,  and  with  the 
permission  of  the  author  we  give  it  here :  — 

The  Lady  Hannah. 

«*  Now  take  my  hand,"  quoth  Captain  Kidd, 
"The  air  is  blithe,  I  scent  the  meads." 

He  led  her  up  the  starlit  sands. 
Out  of  the  rustling  reeds. 


The  Pirate  of  the  Buried  Treasure        297 

The  great  white  owl  then  beat  his  breast. 

Athwart  the  cedars  whirred  and  flew ; 
*'  There's  death  in  our  handsome  captain's  eye, 

Murmured  the  pirate's  crew. 

And  long  they  lay  upon  their  oars 

And  cursed  the  silence  and  the  chill ; 
They  cursed  the  wail  of  the  rising  wind. 

For  no  man  dared  be  still. 

Of  ribald  songs  they  sang  a  score 

To  stifle  the  midnight  sobs  and  sighs. 
They  told  wild  tales  of  the  Indian  Main, 

To  drown  the  far-off  cries. 

But  when  they  ceased,  and  Captain  Kidd 
Came  down  the  sands  of  Dead  Neck  Isle, 

**  My  lady  wearies,"  he  grimly  said, 
"And  she  would  rest  awhile. 

**  I*ve  made  her  a  bed  —  'tis  here,  'tis  there. 

And  she  shall  wake,  be  it  soon  or  long. 
Where  grass  is  green  and  wild  birds  sing 

And  the  wind  makes  undersong. 

**  Be  quick,  my  men,  and  give  a  hand. 

She  loved  soft  furs  and  silken  stuffy 
Jewels  of  gold  and  silver  bars. 

And  she  shall  have  enough. 

*«  With  silver  bars  and  golden  ore. 

So  fine  a  lady  she  shall  be, 
A  many  suitor  shall  seek  her  long. 

As  they  sought  Penelope. 


298     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

**  And  if  a  lover  would  win  her  hand. 

No  lips  e*er  kissed  a  hand  so  white. 
And  if  a  lover  would  hear  her  sing. 

She  sings  at  owlet  light. 

**  But  if  a  lover  would  win  her  gold. 
And  his  hands  be  strong  to  lift  the  lid, 

"Hs  here,  *tis  there,  *tis  everywhere  — 
In  the  chest,**  quoth  Captain  Kidd. 

They  lifted  long,  they  lifted  well. 
Ingots  of  gold,  and  silver  bars. 
And  silken  plunder  jfrom  wild,  wild  wars. 

But  where  they  laid  them,  no  man  can  tell. 
Though  known  to  a  thousand  stars. 

But  the  ordinary  Kidd  stories  are  very  much  the 
same,  and  depend  a  good  deal  upon  the  character 
of  the  coast  and  upon  the  imagination  of  the  peo- 
ple who  live  in  that  region.  We  will  give  one 
of  them  as  a  sample,  and  from  this  a  number  of 
very  good  pirate  stories  could  be  manufactured  by 
ingenious  persons. 

It  was  a  fine  summer  night  late  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  A  young  man  named  Abner  Stout, 
in  company  with  his  wife  Mary,  went  out  for  a  walk 
upon  the  beach.  They  lived  in  a  little  village  near 
the  coast  of  New  Jersey.  Abner  was  a  good  car- 
penter, but  a  poor  man ;  but  he  and  his  wife  were 
very  happy  with  each  other,  and  as  they  walked 


The  Pirate  of  the  Buried  Treasure        299 

toward  the  sea  in  the  light  of  the  full  moon,  no 
young  lovers  could  have  been  more  gay. 

When  they  reached  a  little  bluff  covered  with 
low  shrubbery,  which  was  the  first  spot  from  which 
they  could  have  a  full  view  of  the  ocean,  Abner 
suddenly  stopped,  and  pointed  out  to  Mary  an 
unusual  sight.  There,  as  plainly  in  view  as  if  it 
had  been  broad  daylight,  was  a  vessel  lying  at  the 
entrance  of  the  little  bay.  The  sails  were  furled, 
and  it  was  apparently  anchored. 

For  a  minute  Abner  gazed  in  utter  amazement 
at  the  sight  of  this  vessel,  for  no  ships,  large  or 
small,  came  to  this  little  lonely  bay.  There  was  a 
harbor  two  or  three  miles  farther  up  the  coast  to 
which  all  trading  craft  repaired.  What  could  the 
strange  ship  want  here  ? 

This  unusual  visitor  to  the  little  bay  was  a  very 
low  and  very  long,  black  schooner,  with  tall  masts 
which  raked  forward,  and  with  something  which 
looked  very  much  like  a  black  flag  fluttering  in  its 
rigging.  Now  the  truth  struck  into  the  soul  of 
Abner.  "Hide  yourself,  Mary,"  he  whispered, 
"  It  is  a  pirate  ship ! "  And  almost  at  the  same 
instant  the  young  man  and  his  wife  laid  themselves 
flat  on  the  ground  among  the  bushes,  but  they  were 
very  careful,  each  of  them,  to  take  a  position  which 
would  allow  them  to  peep  out  through  the  twigs 
and  leaves  upon  the  scene  before  them. 


300     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

There  seemed  to  be  a  good  deal  of  commotion 
on  board  the  black  schooner,  and  very  soon  a  large 
boat  pushed  off  from  her  side,  and  the  men  In  It 
began  rowing  rapidly  toward  the  shore,  apparently 
making  for  a  spot  on  the  beach,  not  far  from  the 
bluff  on  which  Abner  and  Mary  were  concealed. 
"  Let  us  get  up  and  run,"  whispered  Mary,  trem- 
bling from  head  to  toe.  "They  are  pirates,  and 
they  are  coming  here  !  " 

"  Lie  still !  Lie  still !  "  said  Abner.  "  If  we  get 
up  and  leave  these  bushes,  we  shall  be  seen,  and 
then  they  will  be  after  us !  Lie  still,  and  do  not 
move  a  finger  !  " 

The  trembling  Mary  obeyed  her  husband,  and 
they  both  lay  quite  still,  scarcely  breathing,  with 
eyes  wide  open.  The  boat  rapidly  approached 
the  shore.  Abner  counted  ten  men  rowing  and 
one  man  sitting  In  the  stern.  The  boat  seemed 
to  be  heavily  loaded,  and  the  oarsmen  rowed  hard. 

Now  the  boat  was  run  through  the  surf  to  the 
beach,  and  its  eleven  occupants  jumped  out.  There 
was  no  mistaking  their  character.  They  were  true 
pirates.  They  had  great  cutlasses  and  pistols,  and 
one  of  them  was  very  tall  and  broad  shouldered, 
and  wore  an  old-fashioned  cocked  hat. 

"  That's  Captain  KIdd,"  whispered  Abner  to  his 
wife,  and  she  pressed  his  hand  to  let  him  know  that 
she  thought  he  must  be  right. 


**The  boat  was  run  through  the  surf  to  the  beach."  — p.  300. 


The  Pirate  of  the  Buried  Treasure       301 

Now  the  men  came  up  high  upon  the  beach,  and 
began  looking  about  here  and  there  as  if  they  were 
searching  for  something.  Mary  was  filled  with 
horror  for  fear  they  should  come  to  that  bluff  to 
search,  but  Abner  knew  there  was  no  danger  of 
that.  They  had  probably  come  to  those  shores 
to  bury  treasure,  as  if  they  were  great  sea-turtles 
coming  up  upon  the  beach  to  lay  their  eggs,  and 
they  were  now  looking  for  some  good  spot  where 
they  might  dig. 

Presently  the  tall  man  gave  some  orders  in  a  low 
voice,  and  then  his  men  left  him  to  himself,  and 
went  back  to  the  boat.  There  was  a  great  pine  tree 
standing  back  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
water,  battered  and  racked  by  storms,  but  still  a 
tough  old  tree.  Toward  this  the  pirate  captain 
stalked,  and  standing  close  to  it,  with  his  back 
against  it,  he  looked  up  into  the  sky.  It  was  plain 
that  he  was  looking  for  a  star.  There  were  very 
few  of  these  luminaries  to  be  seen  in  the  heavens, 
for  the  moon  was  so  bright.  But  as  Abner  looked 
in  the  direction  in  which  the  pirate  captain  gazed, 
he  saw  a  star  still  bright  in  spite  of  the  moonlight. 

With  his  eyes  fixed  upon  this  star,  the  pirate 
captain  now  stepped  forward,  making  long  strides. 
One,  two,  three,  four,  five,  six,  seven.  Then  he 
stopped,  plunged  his  right  heel  in  the  soft  ground, 
and  turned  squarely  about  to  the  left,  so  that  his 


302     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

broad  back  was  now  parallel  with  a  line  drawn  from 
the  pine  tree  to  the  star. 

At  right  angles  to  this  line  the  pirate  now  stepped 
forward,  making  as  before  seven  long  paces.  Then 
he  stopped,  dug  his  heel  into  the  ground,  and  beck- 
oned to  his  men.  Up  they  came  running,  carrying 
picks  and  spades,  and  with  great  alacrity  they  began 
to  dig  at  the  place  where  the  captain  had  marked 
with  his  heel. 

It  was  plain  that  these  pirates  were  used  to  mak- 
ing excavations,  for  it  was  not  long  before  the  hole 
was  so  deep  that  those  within  it  could  not  be 
seen.  Then  the  captain  gave  an  order  to  cease 
digging,  and  he  and  all  the  pirates  went  back  to 
the  boat. 

For  about  half  an  hour, — though  Mary  thought 
it  was  a  longer  time  than  that,  —  those  pirates 
worked  very  hard  carrying  great  boxes  and  bags 
from  the  boat  to  the  excavation.  When  everything 
had  been  brought  up,  two  of  the  pirates  went  down 
into  the  hole,  and  the  others  handed  to  them  the 
various  packages.  Skilfully  and  quickly  they  worked, 
doubtless  storing  their  goods  with  great  care,  until 
nearly  everything  which  had  been  brought  from  the 
boat  had  been  placed  in  the  deep  hole.  Some  rolls 
of  goods  were  left  upon  the  ground  which  Mary 
thought  were  carpets,  but  which  Abner  believed  to 
be  rich  Persian  rugs,  or  something  of  that  kind. 


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**Two  of  the  pirates  went  down  into  the  hole."  — p.  302. 


The  Pirate  of  the  Buried  Treasure       303 

Now  the  captain  stepped  aside,  and  picking  up 
from  the  sand  some  little  sticks  and  reeds,  he 
selected  ten  of  them,  and  with  these  in  one  hand, 
and  with  their  ends  protruding  a  short  distance 
above  his  closed  fingers,  he  rejoined  his  men. 
They  gathered  before  him,  and  he  held  out  toward 
them  the  hand  which  contained  the  little  sticks. 

"They're  drawing  lots ! "  gasped  Abner,  and  Mary 
trembled  more  than  she  had  done  yet. 

Now  the  lots  were  all  drawn,  and  one  man,  appar- 
ently a  young  pirate,  stepped  out  from  among  his 
fellows.  His  head  was  bowed,  and  his  arms  were 
folded  across  his  manly  chest.  The  captain  spoke 
a  few  words,  and  the  young  pirate  advanced  alone 
to  the  side  of  the  deep  hole. 

Mary  now  shut  her  eyes  tight,  tight ;  but  Abner's 
were  wide  open.  There  was  a  sudden  gleam  of  cut- 
lasses in  the  air;  there  was  one  short,  plaintive 
groan,  and  the  body  of  the  young  pirate  fell  into 
the  hole.  Instantly  all  the  other  goods,  furs,  rugs, 
or  whatever  they  were,  were  tumbled  in  upon  him. 
Then  the  men  began  to  shovel  in  the  earth  and 
sand,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  time  the  hole  was 
filled  up  even  with  the  ground  about  it. 

Of  course  all  the  earth  and  sand  which  had  been 
taken  out  of  the  hole  could  not  now  be  put  back 
into  it.  But  these  experienced  treasure-hiders  knew 
exactly  what  to  do  with  it.     A  spadeful  at  a  time, 


304     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

the  soil  which  could  not  be  replaced  was  carried 
to  the  sea,  and  thrown  out  into  the  water,  and  when 
the  whole  place  had  been  carefully  smoothed  over, 
the  pirates  gathered  sticks  and  stones,  and  little 
bushes,  and  great  masses  of  wild  cranberry  vines, 
and  scattered  them  about  over  the  place  so  that 
it  soon  looked  exactly  like  the  rest  of  the  beach 
about  it. 

Then  the  tall  captain  gave  another  low  command, 
the  pirates  returned  to  their  boat,  it  was  pushed  off, 
and  rapidly  rowed  back  to  the  schooner.  Up  came 
the  anchor,  up  went  the  dark  sails.  The  low,  black 
schooner  was  y-ut  about,  and  very  soon  she  was  dis- 
appearing over  the  darkening  waters,  her  black  flag 
fluttering  fiercely  high  above  her. 

"  Now,  let  us  run,"  whispered  poor  Mary,  who, 
although  she  had  not  seen  everything,  imagined  a 
great  deal ;  for  as  the  pirates  were  getting  into  their 
boat  she  had  opened  her  eyes  and  had  counted  them, 
and  there  were  only  nine  beside  the  tall  captain. 

Abner  thought  that  her  advice  was  very  good, 
and  starting  up  out  of  the  brushwood  they  hastened 
home  as  fast  as  their  legs  would  carry  them. 

The  next  day  Abner  seemed  to  be  a  changed 
man.  He  had  work  to  do,  but  he  neglected  it. 
Never  had  such  a  thing  happened  before !  For 
hours  he  sat  in  front  of  the  house,  looking  up  into 
the  sky,  counting  one,  two,  three,  four,  five,  six, 


The  Pirate  of  the  Buried  Treasure       305 

seven.  Then  he  would  twist  himself  around  on 
the  little  bench,  and  count  seven  more. 

This  worthy  couple  lived  in  a  small  house  which 
had  a  large  cellar,  and  during  the  afternoon  of  that 
day  Abner  busied  himself  in  clearing  out  this  cellar, 
and  taking  out  of  it  everything  which  it  had  con- 
tained. His  wife  asked  no  questions.  In  her  soul 
she  knew  what  Abner  was  thinking  about. 

Supper  was  over,  and  most  of  the  people  in  the 
village  were  thinking  of  going  to  bed,  when  Abner 
said  to  Mary,  "  Let  us  each  take  a  spade,  and  I  will 
carry  a  pail,  and  we  will  go  out  upon  the  beach  for 
a  walk.  If  any  one  should  see  us,  they  would  think 
that  we  were  going  to  dig  for  clams." 

"  Oh,  no,  dear  Abner !  "  cried  Mary.  "We  must 
not  dig  there !  Think  of  that  young  pirate.  Almost 
the  first  thing  we  would  come  to  would  be  him  ! " 

"  I  have  thought  of  that,"  said  Abner ;  "  but  do 
you  not  believe  that  the  most  Christian  act  that  you 
and  I  could  do  would  be  to  take  him  out  and  place 
him  in  a  proper  grave  near  by  ? " 

"  Oh,  no  ! "  exclaimed  Mary,  "  do  not  say  such 
a  thing  as  that !  Think  of  his  ghost !  They  killed 
him  and  put  him  there,  that  his  ghost  might  guard 
their  treasure.  You  know,  Abner,  as  well  as  I  do, 
that  this  is  their  dreadful  fashion !" 

"  I  know  all  about  that,"  said  Abner,  "  and  that 
is  the  reason  I  wish  to  go  to-night.     I  do  not  be- 


3o6     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

lieve  there  has  yet  been  time  enough  for  his  ghost 
to  form.  But  let  us  take  him  out  now,  dear  Mary, 
and  lay  him  reverently  away,  —  and  then  !  **  He 
looked  at  her  with  flashing  eyes. 

"  But,  Abner,"  said  she,  "  do  you  think  we  have 
the  right  ? " 

"  Of  course  we  have,"  said  he.  "  Those  treas- 
ures do  not  belong  to  the  pirates.  If  we  take  them 
they  are  treasure-trove,  and  legally  ours.  And 
think,  dear  Mary,  how  poor  we  are  to-night,  and 
how  rich  we  may  be  to-morrow !  Come,  get  the 
pail.     We  must  be  off." 

Running  nearly  all  the  way,  —  for  they  were  in 
such  a  hurry  they  could  not  walk,  —  Abner  and 
Mary  soon  reached  the  bluiF,  and  hastily  scrambling 
down  to  the  beach  below,  they  stood  upon  the 
dreadful  spot  where  Captain  Kidd  and  his  pirates 
had  stood  the  night  before.  There  was  the  old 
battered  pine  tree,  reaching  out  two  of  its  bare  arms 
encouragingly  toward  them. 

Without  loss  of  time  Abner  walked  up  to  the 
tree,  put  his  back  to  it,  and  then  looked  up  into 
the  sky.  Now  he  called  Mary  to  him.  "Which 
star  do  you  think  he  looked  at,  good  wife  ? "  said 
he.  "  There  is  a  bright  one  low  down,  and  then 
there  is  another  one  a  little  higher  up,  and  farther 
to  the  right,  but  it  is  fainter." 

"  It   would   be   the   bright   one,  I    think,"  said 


The  Pirate  of  the   Buried  Treasure       307 

Mary.  And  then  Abner,  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the 
bright  star,  commenced  to  stride.  One,  two,  three, 
four,  five,  six,  seven.  Turning  squarely  around  to 
the  left  he  again  made  seven  paces.  And  now  he 
beckoned  vigorously  to  Mary  to  come  and  dig. 

For  about  ten  minutes  they  dug,  and  then  they 
laid  bare  a  great  mass  of  rock.  "This  isn't  the 
place,"  cried  Abner.  "  I  must  begin  again.  I  did 
not  look  at  the  right  star.    I  will  take  the  other  one." 

For  the  greater  part  of  that  night  Abner  and 
Mary  remained  upon  the  beach.  Abner  would 
put  his  back  against  the  tree,  fix  his  eyes  upon  an- 
other star,  stride  forward  seven  paces,  and  then 
seven  to  the  left,  and  he  would  come  upon  a  little 
scrubby  pine  tree.    Of  course  that  was  not  the  place. 

The  moon  soon  began  to  set,  and  more  stars 
came  out,  so  that  Abner  had  a  greater  choice. 
Again  and  again  he  made  his  measurements,  and 
every  time  that  he  came  to  the  end  of  his  second 
seven  paces,  he  found  that  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible for  the  pirates  to  make  their  excavation 
there. 

There  was  clearly  something  wrong.  Abner 
thought  that  he  had  not  selected  the  right  star,  and 
Mary  thought  that  his  legs  were  not  long  enough. 
"  That  pirate  captain,"  quoth  she,  "  had  a  long  and 
manly  stride.  Seven  of  his  paces  would  go  a  far 
greater  distance  than  seven  of  yours,  Abner." 


3o8     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Abner  made  his  paces  a  little  longer;  but  although 
he  and  his  wife  kept  up  their  work  until  they  could 
see  the  early  dawn,  they  found  no  spot  where  it 
would  be  worth  while  to  dig,  and  so  mournfully 
they  returned  to  their  home  and  their  empty  cellar. 

As  long  as  the  moonlight  lasted,  Abner  and 
Mary  went  to  the  little  beach  at  the  head  of  the  bay, 
and  made  their  measurements  and  their  searches,  but 
although  they  sometimes  dug  a  little  here  and  there, 
they  always  found  that  they  had  not  struck  the  place 
where  the  pirate's  treasure  had  been  buried. 

When  at  last  they  gave  up  their  search,  and  con- 
cluded to  put  their  household  goods  back  into  their 
cellar,  they  told  the  tale  to  some  of  the  neighbors, 
and  other  people  went  out  and  dug,  not  only  at  the 
place  which  had  been  designated,  but  miles  up  and 
down  the  coast,  and  then  the  story  was  told  and 
retold,  and  so  it  has  lasted  until  the  present  day. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  legendary  Captain 
Kidd  will  give  a  very  good  idea  of  the  estimation  in 
which  this  romantic  being  has  been,  and  still  is,  held 
in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and,  of  all  the  legiti- 
mate legends  about  him,  there  is  not  one  which 
recounts  his  piratical  deeds  upon  our  coast.  The 
reason  for  this  will  be  seen  when  we  consider,  in 
the  next  chapter,  the  life  and  character  of  the  real 
Captain  Kidd. 


Chapter  XXXII 
The  Real  Captain  Kidd 

WILLIAM  KIDD,  or  Robert  Kidd,  as  he 
is  sometimes  called,  was  a  sailor  in  the 
merchant  service  who  had  a  wife  and  fam- 
ily in  New  York.  He  was  a  very  respectable  man 
and  had  a  good  reputation  as  a  seaman,  and  about 
1690,  when  there  was  war  between  England  and 
France,  Kidd  was  given  the  command  of  a  priva- 
teer, and  having  had  two  or  three  engagements  with 
French  vessels  he  showed  himself  to  be  a  brave 
fighter  and  a  prudent  commander. 

Some  years  later  he  sailed  to  England,  and,  while 
there,  he  received  an  appointment  of  a  peculiar 
character.  It  was  at  the  time  when  the  King  of 
England  was  doing  his  best  to  put  down  the  pirates 
of  the  American  coast,  and  Sir  George  Bellomont, 
the  recently  appointed  Governor  of  New  York, 
recommended  Captain  Kidd  as  a  very  suitable  man 
to  command  a  ship  to  be  sent  out  to  suppress 
piracy.  When  Kidd  agreed  to  take  the  position 
of  chief  of  marine  police,  he  was  not  employed  by 

309 


3IO     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

the  Crown,  but  by  a  small  company  of  gentlemen 
of  capital,  who  formed  themselves  into  a  sort  of 
trust  company,  or  society  for  the  prevention  of  cru- 
elty to  merchantmen,  and  the  object  of  their  associa- 
tion was  not  only  to  put  down  pirates,  but  to  put 
some  money  in  their  own  pockets  as  well. 

Kidd  was  furnished  with  two  commissions,  one 
appointing  him  a  privateer  with  authority  to  capture 
French  vessels,  and  the  other  empowering  him  to 
seize  and  destroy  all  pirate  ships.  Kidd  was  ordered 
in  his  mission  to  keep  a  strict  account  of  all  booty 
captured,  in  order  that  it  might  be  fairly  divided 
among  those  who  were  stockholders  in  the  enter- 
prise, one-tenth  of  the  total  proceeds  being  reserved 
for  the  King. 

Kidd  sailed  from  England  in  the  Adventure^  b. 
large  ship  with  thirty  guns  and  eighty  men,  and  on 
his  way  to  America  he  captured  a  French  ship 
which  he  carried  to  New  York.  Here  he  arranged 
to  make  his  crew  a  great  deal  larger  than  had  been 
thought  necessary  in  England,  and,  by  offering  a 
fair  share  of  the  property  he  might  confiscate  on 
piratical  or  French  ships,  he  induced  a  great  many 
able  seamen  to  enter  his  service,  and  when  the  Ad- 
venture left  New  York  she  carried  a  crew  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-five  men. 

With  a  fine  ship  and  a  strong  crew,  Kidd  now 
sailed  out  of  the  harbor  with  the  ostensible  purpose 


The  Real  Captain  Kidd  311 

of  putting  down  piracy  in  American  waters,  but  the 
methods  of  this  legally  appointed  marine  policeman 
were  very  peculiar,  and,  instead  of  cruising  up  and 
down  our  coast,  he  gayly  sailed  away  to  the  island 
of  Madeira,  and  then  around  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  to  Madagascar  and  the  Red  Sea,  thus  getting 
himself  as  far  out  of  his  regular  beat  as  any  New 
York  constable  would  have  been  had  he  undertaken 
to  patrol  the  dominions  of  the  Khan  of  Tartary. 

By  the  time  Captain  Kidd  reached  that  part  of 
the  world  he  had  been  at  sea  for  nearly  a  year 
without  putting  down  any  pirates  or  capturing  any 
French  ships.  In  fact,  he  had  made  no  money 
whatever  for  himself  or  the  stockholders  of  the 
company  which  had  sent  him  out.  His  men,  of 
course,  must  have  been  very  much  surprised  at  this 
unusual  neglect  of  his  own  and  his  employers'  inter- 
ests, but  when  he  reached  the  Red  Sea,  he  boldly 
informed  them  that  he  had  made  a  change  in  his 
business,  and  had  decided  that  he  would  be  no 
longer  a  suppressor  of  piracy,  but  would  become  a 
pirate  himself;  and,  instead  of  taking  prizes  of 
French  ships  only,  —  which  he  was  legally  empow- 
ered to  do,  —  he  would  try  to  capture  any  valuable 
ship  he  could  find  on  the  seas,  no  matter  to  what 
nation  it  belonged.  He  then  went  on  to  state  that 
his  present  purpose  in  coming  into  those  oriental 
waters  was  to  capture  the  rich  fleet  from  Mocha 


312     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

which  was  due  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Red  Sea 
about  that  time. 

The  crew  of  the  Adventure,  who  must  have  been 
tired  of  having  very  little  to  do  and  making  no 
money,  expressed  their  entire  approbation  of  their 
captain's  change  of  purpose,  and  readily  agreed  to 
become  pirates. 

Kidd  waited  a  good  while  for  the  Mocha  fleet, 
but  it  did  not  arrive,  and  then  he  made  his  first 
venture  in  actual  piracy.  He  overhauled  a  Moor- 
ish vessel  which  was  commanded  by  an  English 
captain,  and  as  England  was  not  at  war  with 
Morocco,  and  as  the  nationality  of  the  ship's 
commander  should  have  protected  him,  Kidd  thus 
boldly  broke  the  marine  laws  which  governed  the 
civilized  world  and  stamped  himself  an  out-and-out 
pirate.  After  the  exercise  of  considerable  cruelty 
he  extorted  from  his  first  prize  a  small  amount  of 
money ;  and  although  he  and  his  men  did  not  gain 
very  much  booty,  they  had  whetted  their  appetites 
for  more,  and  Kidd  cruised  savagely  over  the 
eastern  seas  in  search  of  other  spoils. 

After  a  time  the  Adventure  fell  in  with  a  fine 
English  ship,  called  the  Royal  Captain,  and 
although  she  was  probably  laden  with  a  rich  cargo, 
Kidd  did  not  attack  her.  His  piratical  character 
was  not  yet  sufficiently  formed  to  give  him  the 
disloyal  audacity  which  would  enable  him  with  his 


The  Real  Captain  Kidd  313 

English  ship  and  his  English  crew,  to  fall  upon 
another  English  ship  manned  by  another  English 
crew.  In  time  his  heart  might  be  hardened,  but  he 
felt  that  he  could  not  begin  with  this  sort  of  thing 
just  yet.  So  the  Adventure  saluted  the  Royal  Cap- 
tain with  ceremonious  politeness,  and  each  vessel 
passed  quietly  on  its  way.  But  this  conscientious 
consideration  did  not  suit  Kidd's  crew.  They  had 
already  had  a  taste  of  booty,  and  they  were  hungry 
for  more,  and  when  the  fine  English  vessel,  of 
which  they  might  so  easily  have  made  a  prize,  was 
allowed  to  escape  them,  they  were  loud  in  their 
complaints  and  grumblings. 

One  of  the  men,  a  gunner,  named  William 
Moore,  became  actually  impertinent  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  he  and  Captain  Kidd  had  a  violent 
quarrel,  in  the  course  of  which  the  captain  picked 
up  a  heavy  iron-bound  bucket  and  struck  the  dis- 
satisfied gunner  on  the  head  with  it.  The  blow 
was  such  a  powerful  one  that  the  man's  skull  was 
broken,  and  he  died  the  next  day. 

Captain  Kidd's  conscience  seems  to  have  been  a 
good  deal  in  his  way;  for  although  he  had  been 
sailing  about  in  various  eastern  waters,  taking 
prizes  wherever  he  could,  he  was  anxious  that 
reports  of  his  misdeeds  should  not  get  home  before 
him.  Having  captured  a  fine  vessel  bound  west- 
ward, he  took  from  her  all  the  booty  he  could,  and 


314     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

then  proceeded  to  arrange  matters  so  that  the  capt- 
ure of  this  ship  should  appear  to  be  a  legal 
transaction.  The  ship  was  manned  by  Moors  and 
commanded  by  a  Dutchman,  and  of  course  Kidd 
had  no  right  to  touch  it,  but  the  sharp-witted  and 
business-like  pirate  selected  one  of  the  passengers 
and  made  him  sign  a  paper  declaring  that  he  was  a 
Frenchman,  and  that  he  commanded  the  ship. 
When  this  statement  had  been  sworn  to  before 
witnesses,  Kidd  put  the  document  in  his  pocket  so 
that  if  he  were  called  upon  to  explain  the  trans- 
action he  might  be  able  to  show  that  he  had  good 
reason  to  suppose  that  he  had  captured  a  French 
ship,  which,  of  course,  was  all  right  and  proper. 
Kidd  now  ravaged  the  East  India  waters  with 
great  success  and  profit,  and  at  last  he  fell  in  with  a 
very  fine  ship  from  Armenia,  called  the  ^edagh 
Merchant,  commanded  by  an  Englishman.  Kidd's 
conscience  had  been  growing  harder  and  harder 
every  day,  and  he  did  not  now  hesitate  to  attack 
any  vessel.  The  great  merchantman  was  captured, 
and  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  valuable  prizes 
ever  taken  by  a  pirate,  for  Kidd's  own  share  of  the 
spoils  amounted  to  more  than  sixty  thousand  dol- 
lars. This  was  such  a  grand  haul  that  Kidd  lost 
no  time  in  taking  his  prize  to  some  place  where  he 
might  safely  dispose  of  her  cargo,  and  get  rid  of  her 
passengers.     Accordingly  he  sailed  for  Madagascar. 


*  The  great  merchantman  was  captured." — p.  314. 


•     The  Real  Captain  Kidd  315 

While  he  was  there  he  fell  in  with  the  first  pirate 
vessel  he  had  met  since  he  had  started  out  to  put 
down  piracy.  This  was  a  ship  commanded  by  an 
English  pirate  named  Culliford,  and  here  would 
have  been  a  chance  for  Captain  Kidd  to  show  that, 
although  he  might  transgress  the  law  himself,  he 
would  be  true  to  his  engagement  not  to  allow  other 
people  to  do  so;  but  he  had  given  up  putting  down 
piracy,  and  instead  of  apprehending  Culliford  he 
went  into  partnership  with  him,  and  the  two  agreed 
to  go  pirating  together. 

This  partnership,  however,  did  not  continue 
long,  for  Captain  Kidd  began  to  believe  that  it  was 
time  for  him  to  return  to  his  native  country  and 
make  a  report  of  his  proceedings  to  his  employers. 
Having  confined  his  piratical  proceedings  to  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  world,  he  hoped  that  he  would  be 
able  to  make  Sir  George  Bellomont  and  the  other 
stockholders  suppose  that  his  booty  was  all  legiti- 
mately taken  from  French  vessels  cruising  in  the 
east,  and  when  the  proper  division  should  be  made 
he  would  be  able  to  quietly  enjoy  his  portion  of  the 
treasure  he  had  gained. 

He  did  not  go  back  in  the  Adventure^  which  was 
probably  not  large  enough  to  carry  all  the  booty  he 
had  amassed,  but  putting  everything  on  board  his 
latest  prize,  the  ^edagh  Merchanty  he  burned  his 
old  ship  and  sailed  homeward. 


3i6     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

When  he  reached  the  West  Indies,  however,  our 
wary  sea-robber  was  very  much  surprised  to  find 
that  accounts  of  his  evil  deeds  had  reached  America, 
and  that  the  colonial  authorities  had  been  so  much 
incensed  by  the  news  that  the  man  who  had  been 
sent  out  to  suppress  piracy  had  become  himself  a 
pirate,  that  they  had  circulated  notices  throughout 
the  different  colonies,  urging  the  arrest  of  Kidd  if 
he  should  come  into  any  American  port.  This  was 
disheartening  intelligence  for  the  treasure-laden  Cap- 
tain Kidd,  but  he  did  not  despair;  he  knew  that 
the  love  of  money  was  often  as  strong  in  the  minds 
of  human  beings  as  the  love  of  justice.  Sir  George 
Bellomont,  who  was  now  in  New  York,  was  one  of 
the  principal  stockholders  in  the  enterprise,  and 
Kidd  hoped  that  the  rich  share  of  the  results  of  his 
industry  which  would  come  to  the  Governor  might 
cause  unpleasant  reports  to  be  disregarded.  In  this 
case  he  might  yet  return  to  his  wife  and  family  with 
a  neat  little  fortune,  and  without  danger  of  being 
called  upon  to  explain  his  exceptional  performances 
in  the  eastern  seas. 

Of  course  Kidd  was  not  so  foolish  and  rash  as  to 
sail  into  New  York  harbor  on  board  the  ^edagh 
Merchant y  so  he  bought  a  small  sloop  and  put  the 
most  valuable  portion  of  his  goods  on  board  her, 
leaving  his  larger  vessel,  which  also  contained  a 
great  quantity  of  merchandise,  in  the  charge  of  one 


The  Real  Captain  Kidd  317 

of  his  confederates,  and  in  the  little  sloop  he  cau- 
tiously approached  the  coast  of  New  Jersey.  His 
great  desire  was  to  find  out  what  sort  of  a  reception 
he  might  expect,  so  he  entered  Delaware  Bay,  and 
when  he  stopped  at  a  little  seaport  in  order  to  take 
in  some  supplies,  he  discovered  that  there  was  but 
small  chance  of  his  visiting  his  home  and  his  family, 
and  of  making  a  report  to  his  superior  in  the  char- 
acter of  a  deserving  mariner  who  had  returned  after 
a  successful  voyage.  Some  people  in  the  village 
recognized  him,  and  the  report  soon  spread  to  New 
York  that  the  pirate  Kidd  was  lurking  about  the 
coast.  A  sloop  of  war  was  sent  out  to  capture  his 
vessel,  and  finding  that  it  was  impossible  to  remain 
in  the  vicinity  where  he  had  been  discovered,  Kidd 
sailed  northward  and  entered  Long  Island  Sound. 

Here  the  shrewd  and  anxious  pirate  began  to  act 
the  part  of  the  watch  dog  who  has  been  killing 
sheep.  In  every  way  he  endeavored  to  assume  the 
appearance  of  innocence  and  to  conceal  every  sign 
of  misbehavior.  He  wrote  to  Sir  George  Bellomont 
that  he  should  have  called  upon  him  in  order  to 
report  his  proceedings  and  hand  over  his  profits, 
were  it  not  for  the  wicked  and  malicious  reports 
which  had  been  circulated  about  him. 

It  was  during  this  period  of  suspense,  when  the 
returned  pirate  did  not  know  what  was  likely  to 
happen,  that  it  is  supposed,  by  the  believers  in  the 


3i8     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

hidden  treasures  of  Kidd,  that  he  buried  his  coin 
and  bullion  and  his  jewels,  some  in  one  place  and 
some  in  another,  so  that  if  he  were  captured  his 
riches  would  not  be  taken  with  him.  Among  the 
wild  stories  which  were  believed  at  that  time,  and 
for  long  years  after,  was  one  to  the  effect  that  Cap- 
tain Kidd's  ship  was  chased  up  the  Hudson  River 
by  a  man-of-war,  and  that  the  pirates,  finding  they 
could  not  get  away,  sank  their  ship  and  fled  to  the 
shore  with  all  the  gold  and  silver  they  could  carry, 
which  they  afterwards  buried  at  the  foot  of  Dunder- 
bergh  Mountain.  A  great  deal  of  rocky  soil  has 
been  turned  over  at  diflferent  times  in  search  of 
these  treasures,  but  no  discoveries  of  hidden  coin 
have  yet  been  reported.  The  fact  is,  however,  that 
during  this  time  of  anxious  waiting  Kidd  never 
sailed  west  of  Oyster  Bay  in  Long  Island.  He  was 
afraid  to  approach  New  York,  although  he  had  fre- 
quent communication  with  that  city,  and  was  joined 
by  his  wife  and  family. 

About  this  time  occurred  an  incident  which  has 
given  rise  to  all  the  stories  regarding  the  buried 
treasure  of  Captain  Kidd.  The  disturbed  and  anx- 
ious pirate  concluded  that  it  was  a  dangerous  thing 
to  keep  so  much  valuable  treasure  on  board  his  ves- 
sel which  might  at  any  time  be  overhauled  by  the 
authorities,  and  he  therefore  landed  at  Gardiner's 
Island  on  the  Long  Island  coast,  and  obtained  per- 


The  Real  Captain  Kidd  319 

mission  from  the  proprietor  to  bury  some  of  his 
superfluous  stores  upon  his  estate.  This  was  a 
straightforward  transaction.  Mr.  Gardiner  knew 
all  about  the  burial  of  the  treasure,  and  when  it  was 
afterwards  proved  that  Kidd  was  really  a  pirate  the 
hidden  booty  was  all  given  up  to  the  government. 

This  appears  to  be  the  only  case  in  which  it  was 
positively  known  that  Kidd  buried  treasure  on  our 
coast,  and  it  has  given  rise  to  all  the  stories  of  the 
kind  which  have  ever  been  told. 

For  some  weeks  Kidd's  sloop  remained  in  Long 
Island  Sound,  and  then  he  took  courage  and  went 
to  Boston  to  see  some  influential  people  there.  He 
was  allowed  to  go  freely  about  the  city  for  a  week, 
and  then  he  was  arrested. 

The  rest  of  Kidd's  story  is  soon  told ;  he  was 
sent  to  England  for  trial,  and  there  he  was  con- 
demned to  death,  not  only  for  the  piracies  he  had 
committed,  but  also  for  the  murder  of  William 
Moore.  He  was  executed,  and  his  body  was  hung 
in  chains  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames,  where  for 
years  it  dangled  in  the  wind,  a  warning  to  all  evil- 
minded  sailors. 

About  the  time  of  Kidd's  trial  and  execution  a 
ballad  was  written  which  had  a  wide  circulation  in 
England  and  America.  It  was  set  to  music,  and 
for  many  years  helped  to  spread  the  fame  of  this 
pirate.     The  ballad  was  a  very  long  one,  containing 


320     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

nearly  twenty-six  verses,  and  some  of  them  run  as 
follows :  — 

My  name  was  Robert  Kidd,  when  I  sailed,  when  I  sailed. 
My  name  was  Robert  Kidd,  when  I  sailed. 
My  name  was  Robert  Kidd, 
God's  laws  I  did  forbid. 
And  so  wickedly  I  did,  when  I  sailed. 

My  parents  taught  me  well,  when  I  sailed,  when  I  sailed. 
My  parents  taught  me  well  when  I  sailed. 
My  parents  taught  me  well 
To  shun  the  gates  of  hell. 
But  'gainst  them  I  rebelled,  when  I  sailed. 

I'd  a  Bible  in  my  hand,  when  I  sailed,  when  I  sailed, 
I'd  a  Bible  in  my  hand  when  I  sailed, 
I'd  a  Bible  in  my  hand. 

By  my  father's  great  command. 
And  sunk  it  in  the  sand,  when  I  sailed. 

I  murdered  William  Moore,  as  I  sailed,  as  I  sailed, 
I  murdered  William  Moore  as  I  sailed, 
I  murdered  William  Moore, 
And  laid  him  in  his  gore. 
Not  many  leagues  from  shore,  as  I  sailed. 

I  was  sick  and  nigh  to  death,  when  I  sailed,  when  I  sailed, 
I  was  sick  and  nigh  to  death  when  I  sailed, 
I  was  sick  and  nigh  to  death. 

And  I  vowed  at  every  breath. 
To  walk  in  wisdom's  ways,  as  I  sailed. 


The  Real  Captain  Kidd  321 

I  thought  I  was  undone,  as  I  sailed,  as  I  sailed, 
I  thought  I  was  undone,  as  I  sailed, 
I  thought  I  was  undone. 

And  my  wicked  glass  had  run. 
But  health  did  soon  return,  as  I  sailed. 

My  repentance  lasted  not,  as  I  sailed,  as  I  saHed, 
My  repentance  lasted  not,  as  I  sailed. 
My  repentance  lasted  not. 
My  vows  I  soon  forgot. 
Damnation  was  my  lot,  as  I  sailed. 

I  spyed  the  ships  from  France,  as  I  sailed,  as  I  sailed^ 
I  spyed  the  ships  from  France,  as  I  sailed, 
I  spyed  the  ships  from  France, 
To  them  I  did  advance. 
And  took  them  all  by  chance,  as  I  sailed. 

I  spyed  the  ships  of  Spain,  as  I  sailed,  as  I  suled, 
I  spyed  the  ships  of  Spain,  as  I  sailed, 
I  spyed  the  ships  of  Spain, 
I  fired  on  them  amain, 
"nil  most  of  them  was  slain,  as  I  sailed. 

I'd  ninety  bars  of  gold,  as  I  sailed,  as  I  sailed, 
rd  ninety  bars  of  gold,  as  I  sailed, 
I'd  ninety  bars  of  gold. 
And  dollars  manifold. 
With  riches  uncontrolled,  as  I  sailed. 

Thus  being  o'er- taken  at  last,  I  must  die,  I  must  die. 
Thus  being  o'er-taken  at  last,  I  must  die. 


322     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

Thus  being  o'er-taken  at  ltst« 
And  into  prison  cast. 
And  sentence  being  passed,  I  must  die. 

Farewell,  the  raging  main,  I  must  die,  I  must  die. 
Farewell,  the  raging  main,  I  must  die. 
Farewell,  the  raging  main. 

To  Turkey,  France,  and  Spain, 
I  shall  ne'er  see  you  again,  I  must  die. 

To  Execution  Dock  I  must  go,  I  must  go. 

To  Execution  Dock  I  must  go. 

To  Execution  Dock, 

Will  many  thousands  flock. 
But  I  must  bear  the  shock,  and  must  die. 

Come  all  ye  young  and  old,  see  me  die,  see  me  die. 
Come  all  ye  young  and  old,  see  me  die. 
Come  all  ye  young  and  old. 

You're  welcome  to  my  gold. 
For  by  it  I've  lost  my  soul,  and  must  die. 

Take  warning  now  by  me,  for  I  must  die,  for  I  must  die. 
Take  warning  now  by  me,  for  I  must  die. 
Take  warning  now  by  me. 
And  shun  bad  company. 
Lest  you  come  to  hell  with  me,  for  I  die. 

It  is  said  that  Kidd  showed  no  repentance  when 
he  was  tried,  but  insisted  that  he  was  the  victim  of 
malicious  persons  who  swore   falsely  against  him. 


The  Real  Captain  Kidd  323 

And  yet  a  more  thoroughly  dishonest  rascal  never 
sailed  under  the  black  flag.  In  the  guise  of  an 
accredited  oflicer  of  the  government,  he  committed 
the  crimes  he  was  sent  out  to  suppress;  he  deceived 
his  men ;  he  robbed  and  misused  his  fellow-coun- 
trymen and  his  friends,  and  he  even  descended  to 
the  meanness  of  cheating  and  despoiling  the  natives 
of  the  West  India  Islands,  with  whom  he  traded. 
These  people  were  in  the  habit  of  supplying  pirates 
with  food  and  other  necessaries,  and  they  always 
found  their  rough  customers  entirely  honest,  and 
willing  to  pay  for  what  they  received;  for  as  the 
pirates  made  a  practice  of  stopping  at  certain  points 
for  supplies,  they  wished,  of  course,  to  be  on  good 
terms  with  those  who  furnished  them.  But  Kidd 
had  no  ideas  of  honor  toward  people  of  high  or 
low  degree.  He  would  trade  with  the  natives  as 
if  he  intended  to  treat  them  fairly  and  pay  for  all 
he  got;  but  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  depart, 
and  he  was  ready  to  weigh  anchor,  he  would  seize 
upon  all  the  commodities  he  could  lay  his  hands 
upon,  and  without  paying  a  copper  to  the  distressed 
and  indignant  Indians,  he  would  gayly  sail  away,  his 
black  flag  flaunting  derisively  in  the  wind. 

But  although  in  reality  Captain  Kidd  was  no 
hero,  he  has  been  known  for  a  century  and  more 
as  the  great  American  pirate,  and  his  name  has  been 
representative  of  piracy  ever  since.     Years  after  he 


324     Buccaneers  and  Pirates  of  Our  Coasts 

had  been  hung,  when  people  heard  that  a  vessel 
with  a  black  flag,  or  one  which  looked  black  in  the 
distance,  flying  from  its  rigging  had  been  seen,  they 
forgot  that  the  famous  pirate  was  dead,  and  imagined 
that  Captain  Kidd  was  visiting  their  part  of  the 
coast  in  order  that  he  might  find  a  good  place  to 
bury  some  treasure  which  it  was  no  longer  safe  for 
him  to  carry  about. 

There  were  two  great  reasons  for  the  fame  of 
Captain  Kidd.  One  of  these  was  the  fact  that  he 
had  been  sent  out  by  important  oflicers  of  the 
crown  who  expected  to  share  the  profits  of  his 
legitimate  operations,  but  who  were  supposed  by 
their  enemies  to  be  perfectly  willing  to  take  any 
sort  of  profits  provided  it  could  not  be  proved  that 
they  were  the  results  of  piracy,  and  who  afterwards 
allowed  Kidd  to  suflTer  for  their  sins  as  well  as  his 
own.  These  opinions  introduced  certain  political 
features  into  his  career  and  made  him  a  very  much 
talked-of  man.  The  greater  reason  for  his  fame, 
however,  was  the  widespread  belief  in  his  buried 
treasures,  and  this  made  him  the  object  of  the  most 
intense  interest  to  hundreds  of  misguided  people 
who  hoped  to  be  lucky  enough  to  share  his  spoils. 

There  were  other  pirates  on  the  American  coast 
during  the  eighteenth  century,  and  some  of  them 
became  very  well  known,  but  their  stories  are  not 
uncommon,  and  we  need  not  tell  them  here.    As  our 


The  Real  Captain  Kidd  325 

country  became  better  settled,  and  as  well-armed 
revenue  cutters  began  to  cruise  up  and  down  our 
Atlantic  coast  for  the  protection  of  our  commerce, 
pirates  became  fewer  and  fewer,  and  even  those  who 
were  still  bold  enough  to  ply  their  trade  grew 
milder  in  their  manners,  less  daring  in  their  ex- 
ploits, and  —  more  important  than  anything  else 
—  so  unsuccessful  in  their  illegal  enterprises  that 
they  were  forced  to  admit  that  it  was  now  more 
profitable  to  command  or  work  a  merchantman 
than  endeavor  to  capture  one,  and  so  the  sea- 
robbers  of  our  coasts  gradually  passed  away. 


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